Stone Silence
by silvercrimsonshadow
Summary: Well Sakura is ready for her ANBU test, but before that she must survive a mission into Stone territory for a stolen scroll with a person she is not very fond of...in the beginning. Nejisaku
1. The Meeting

**Hello, this is my first fanfic. I hope someone likes it. I would appreciate any advice you give me. Um. If you don't like this pairing, don't read. Neji/Saku.**

**Chapter 1**

**Meeting**

It started out as an ordinary day in Konoha. With a few exceptions that are slowly but surely slinking their way into being what one pink haired kunoichi would call ordinary.

First of all, for about a month now it has rained almost everyday, but that happens every year around this time. Second, Naruto was gone on a lot of missions lately and it kind of made her feel a bit lonely.

When her alarm went off at five a.m. she quickly turned off the alarm by calmly pushing the botton, and then knocking it off onto the floor.

She waited a few minutes and then she agonizingly lifted the covers off of her face. Her eyes were glazed over from sleep, and her hair looked like a rats nest. Slowly she got out of bed and went to take a shower.

After she got through showering she brushed her teeth and combed her hair. Then went into her room to get dressed. She put on the regular undergarments, a black fishnet undershirt, and a lime green spaghetti strap shirt. She then pulled on a black mid-thigh skirt with some black shorts underneath. She went downstairs and ate breakfast then headed out the door for training.

She decided on her way that it was a good idea of hers to have taken advantage of today when deciding what to wear this morning. A day without rain meant she could wear such clothes and not have to worry about being cold or soaked to the bone.

**"Just hurry up and get to the training ground so we can get to work" **said Inner Sakura.

_"We'll be there in no time. So don't have a cow."_

**"Fine fine. Just hurry. We don't want to fail our up-and-coming ANBU test do we?" **

_'Okay okay. I see your point. Sheesh.' _thought Sakura as she pumped some chakra into her legs to run faster.

Sakura had been training as much as possible because she signed up for an ANBU exam. Naruto had veen in ANBU for a while now, and she had finally decided it was time she tried to join as well. She has been Tsunade's apprentice for a while now so she new she had gotten way stronger.

She sent out into her very favorite clearing in the forest and began training. Mainly on improving her aim and attempting to improve her stamina a little more by practicing some taijutsu on some training dummies and items.

She had been training for about an hour when she felt a familiar chakra approaching.

In a couple minutes a girl with long blonde hair and deep blue eyes jumped down from a tree and smiled at her. "Hey forehead girl."

"Hey Ino-pig" said Sakura. "Your a little late you know. I thought you might have decided to skip."

"Hmph. You wish. My parents are dragging me out of town for a few days to go and see my cousin's wedding. So I had to go shopping for a new dress." explained Ino, then she stuck her tongue out and winked at her.

Ino and Sakura had been friends since about a month after Sasuke left, and that was about five years ago, since they are now seventeen.

"Oh. Well I guess that's a decent excuse" said Sakura smiling. "Now are you ready or not Ino-pig?"

**"Ya ya ya. Cut the small talk and lets get started. We only have about a week left to train."**

"Well I think we shoould get started. The sooner we get started the sooner I can beat you Ino-pig," Sakura said smirking.

"Ha! You wish forehead girl," Ino said laughing and shifting into a defensive taijutsu stance.

The wind started to pick up as the girls started to spar. Sakura charged at Ino and threw a round house kick at her side. Ino blocked that, but missed blocking the puch to the left side of her face. Of course Sakura's speed helped out a lot.

_"Thank Kami that we're not using chakra. She would've shattered my beautiful face!"_

_**"**_**Cha! Allright Sakura keep it up!"**

It went on like that for a while, blocking, punching, punching and blocking. Kicking and throwing kunai at each other, but no direct hits, mainly scratches and such. (Sorry, I don't really have anything to on for the fight seens. :( If you could give me a few pointers I'll try to make it better!)

After a few hours of taijutsu practice with Ino they were both tired and hungry. Sakura had finally gotten Ino to admit defeat, barely. So they both decided that lunch was in order here.

Walking down the street at an even pace they started talking about girl stuff.

"Hey Sakura are you ever going to get a new boyfriend," asked Ino curiously. "I mean it has been a while since you dated anybody. Your last boyfriend was from Suna right, I mean I know it didn't work out, the long distance and all."

"Ya ya ya. Ino I know, but I just don't know anyone I want to have a relationship with," replied Sakura.

"Well, you could always try going with a Konoha guy for a change. Instead of a guy in another country," Ino said while thinking of who was single.

**"You know she's right Sakura. We've needed a boyfriend for a while now. I know you're sick of being single."**

_"Ya I know. I guess we should try to find someone in Konoha this time. I guess long distance relationships don't really work out all that well."_

While they were walking down the street talking, and not paying attention to where they were going, Sakura bumped right into something sturdy and she fell back.

She immediately began making an apology, until she saw who it was, "Oh, I'm so sorry-

"You should watch where you're going," a person with long chesnut hair and white eyes said to her, "There are other people walking on this street you know."

"Oh, it's you," replied Sakura with a small trace of sarcasm in her voice, "I know there are other people on the road Neji-san, but you could have also made an effort to avoid crashing into us, mister high and mighty. Now if you'll excuse us we'll be on our way."

"Hmph. Like I care about a weak kunoichi like you," he shot back at her in a monotoned voice.

**"What the hell? Who does this guy think he is? Telling us that we're weak! That's it. Let me at 'em! We CANNOT let him get away with calling us weak!"**

_"Your right for once."_

"Hyuuga Neji," Sakura started with her back turned to him face red with anger, "I am not weak! Why don't you just get off of that high horse that you're always sitting on that makes you think you're better than everyone else and show a little courtesy to someone for once!" Sakura yelled giving him the best glare she could muster through her yelling.

He just glared back at her with one of his famous Hyuuga glares.

_Hmm. She's kind of funny when she's mad..._


	2. The Mission

**Well here's the second chapter. I hope someone likes it. Advice is always wanted. Thanx.**

_

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**Chapter 2**

**The Meeting**

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_Hmph. She's kind of funny when she's mad..._

_Wait. What the hell am I saying? I don't even like her._

The Hyuuga just smirked at her retreating form. He knew he hit a nerve, but he didn't care. He is THE Hyuuga Neji. He shouldn't have to move out of anyone else's way. They should move out of his. Besides, he is in a hurry anyways. The Hokage has called him to her office so he needs to get going.

It took him a minimal amount of time to wipe the pink haired kunoichi out of his mind and get to Hokage tower. He walked in and Shizune told him that the Hokage was ready to see him. He nodded silently to her and opened the door to the Hokage's office.

He walked into her office and she told him to have a seat. Which he did. He looked at her waiting to hear what she had to say, scanning around the office he could tell it had been a hard day. There were piles of papers everywhere. Is seems the Hokage has been under a lot of pressure from many different sources lately.

"Neji, I have a mission for you if you wish to take it," said Tsunade, the beautiful blonde Hokage, "This is an S-class mission. I don't expect you to take it if you don't want to. I will give you the details should you wish to accept."

"I accept Hokage-sama," replied Neji wondering what this assignment is.

"Very well, but I must warn you that this is probably going to be the most challenging mission you have faced up-to-date," stated Tsunade seriously. "There has been a scroll stolen from a carrier on his way to this village. The scroll was very important to intercountry relations. I will not tell you what's on the scroll, and when you find it I expect you not to look at the contents, just bring it back here safely and swiftly. Furthermore the shinobi who stole it is from Stone, so that's where you shall be going. You will have one partner going with you, or neither of you will go at all. You need a medic nin to accompany you just in case of injury in Stone. That is not a request. I will choose the medic nin. If you don't want to go then I suggest you tell me now."

"I still accept the mission," replied Neji in his usual monotone voice.

_Meanwhile with Sakura..._

"Hmph. Ino that guy really knows how to rub people the wrong way you know?" said Sakura quite aggrivatedly still ranting from the previous squabble with Hyuuga Neji only moments before. "I mean geez. Why can't he just apologize like any normal person? Ugh. He is so...so...I don't even know what! I do know that I can't stand him!"

**"So is that why you were staring at him a few minutes ago as he was walking off?" questioned Inner Sakura.**

_"That's not important."_

**"Hmph. It seems like you must like him a little since you were stealing glances at him as you were walking off BEHIND Ino so she couldn't see you."**

_"I do NOT like Hyuuga Neji. I just said I couldn't stand him."_

**"Ya ya ya. Just admit that you like him a little."**

_"No. Because I don't."_

**"Ya. You keep telling yourself that."**

_"..."_

They got to the restaurant and sat down in a booth, and a nice waitress came over to take their order. Then she left to get the drinks.

"So Sakura don't you like anyone in Konoha. We really need to find you a boyfriend here," said Ino thoughtfully. "There are a lot of free men in Konoha at the moment."

"Ugh. Not this subject again Ino, can't we talk about someting else for a change. I mean I want a boyfriend as much as the next girl, but there just isn't anyone that I like here, or anyone that is attracted to me," said Sakura a little tired of the subject.

Shortly after they changed the subject to something else the food came. It was very good food too. Sakura loved her's. When a chuunin came in swiftly and apologized for the intrusion and told Sakura that the Hokage wanted to see her about a mission.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ino," Sakura apologized. "I have to go it seems. We'll talk when I get back okay?"

"Sure Sakura. See you later!" said Ino as Sakura left to go see the Hokage.

Sakura was walking toward the door of Hokage tower when she saw Neji walk out. This time they didn't bump into each other. She walked by him as he was heading towards the Hyuuga estate, but they didn't even acknowledge each others existances. That's okay though. Her and Neji never really did acknowledge each other. They didn't even like each other in the slightest, or that's what they keep telling themselves anyway.

She walked in the door and into the Hokage's office taking time to greet Shizune. When she turned to the Hokage she saw that Tsunade was being rather serious right now. Which was a change from the usual nature of the legendary sennin when Sakura was around.

"Sakura I have a S-class mission I would like you to go on, but if you choose not to then very well, but then I would just have to ask another medic nin to go in your stead," said Tsunade with this unusual air of seriousness generating off of her voice.

"Of course I'll go on this mission Tsunade-sensei,"replied Sakura paying close attention.

Tsunade then went on to explain the mission telling her about the scroll, where they were going and that there really was a possibility that she and her partener wouldn't be coming back from this.

As she got up and opened the door it occured to her that Tsunade had told her that she would be traveling with one teammate.

"Ah, Tsunade-sensei who might I ask is might partner for this mission?" asked a curious Sakura.

"Hyuuga Neji,"replied Tsunade as she was reading one of the papers in the many stacks around her office.

_"Hyuuga Neji?!"_

**"Oh isn't this going to be a great trip." Inner Sakura said sarcastically."**


	3. Into the Lions Den

Hey there, here's chapter 3. Hope you like it. Constructive Critisism always welcome!

Chapter 3

Into the Lions Den

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It was almost night two days after Tsunade had told Sakura about the mission to Stone Country. The sky was full of different pinks and oranges. Sakura was getting ready for the long trip. She was just double checking her pack when she happened to look out the window.

_"That is a beautiful sunset." thought Sakura._

**"Ya well you should probably savor the moment since we're not going to see Konoha for a while. Especially since we have to go with Hyuuga on this mission. _Everyone_ knows how _he_ is on a mission. No time for looking at a sunset, " replied Inner Sakura.**

_"For once I agree with you. This is going to be the **WORST** mission ever."_

**"Mm"**

_"Well I suppose we should go," thought Sakura kind of regretfully,"If we're late he'll throw a fit."_

She ran out of her house and towards the Konoha gate. She got there pretty quickly considering she lives a decent way away from it. As she ran she constantly looked up at the sunset.

"I'm here," said Sakura to Neji when she got there.

"Hmph. You're late," Neji replied without even looking at her.

"BY LIKE A MINUTE!" she said aggrivated.

Neji turned around to face her and simply smirked,"We have to get to Stone Country and find a place to cross over undetected. It's imperative that we leave exactly on time or earlier."

"Fine, whatever, let's just go," Sakura replied already sick of arguing with him.

They both ran out of Konoha in the direction of Stone. It was around seven p.m. when they left. No one knew they were going so no one came to tell them goodbye and goodluck. Since it is an S-class mission no one was aloud to know. Other than they were going on a mission, but no one even knew that yet. They were moving fast through the forest, but not so fast as to tire themselves out before they even got to the border. Sakura could see the dusk sky gradually fading into the night. It seeemed like they had only been traveling for a little while when all she could see were the stars, when there was a break in the trees above.

Neji hadn't said a word other than to follow all the directions he gives so this mission would go smoothly since he is team leader, and that was right when they left. The silence was starting to eat at Sakura. Normally there was someone for her to talk to on a mission, but Sakura knew that Neji was the most unlikely candidate in Konoha for her to have an actual conversation with, considering Sasuke disappeared. That an they have never been able to hold even a decent conversation. Meaning everytime they say anything to each other all it ends up being is an argument.

_"Ugh. How much longer is this absolute silence going to last?" Sakura thought practically biting her tongue to keep from talking._

**"I don't know. I only know that we're stuck on a _lengthy_ mission with the worst conversationalist in Konoha."**

"Hey we're going to stop somewhere close for the night," Neji said dropping back to run beside her as if he were reading her mind.

Sakura merely looked at him and nodded.

Not to far ahead Neji spotted a place for them to camp using his Byakugan. They stopped in a tree nearby the site, and Neji used his Byakugan to check for any Stone shinobi, considering how close they were to the border. Better to be safe than sorry.

"Alright, it's all clear," Neji stated using his patented monotone.

Sakura nodded and jumped out of the tree and went in the clearing to start setting up camp. She started by taking off her pack and getting her tent out and setting it up. Neji sat his up, then went to go get some firewood.

They sat in almost complete silence around the fire. The only sounds that were being made were the crackling of the fire and the normal forest sounds.

"Haruno, I think we need to go over the plan for getting across the border of Stone," Neji said still looking at the fire.

"Alright Hyuuga-san," replied Sakura looking at him.

"First we need to find a spot on the border that there are no Stone nin. They are probably going to be guarding considering how bad they most likely want that scroll. Getting across is only the first step. It's probably the easiest considering they are going to be all over looking for us on the way back," said Neji quietly.

Sakura almost couldn't here anything he said, but she caught it.

"Alright. We should probably get some sleep then. So we have strength to go on tomorrow," said Sakura getting up and smiling at him, "Goodnight Hyuuga-san."

He looked up at her in time to see her smile at him and say goodnight. He merely nodded at her and stood up and headed over to his tent to sleep.

Sakura got in her tent and layed down snuggling underneath the covers. They had to leave their camp stuff here after tonight. They weren't that far from the border, and taking that stuff across the border could prove risky. It would also slow them down, which they didn't need.

_"I wonder what he was thinking about just now."_

**"Hmm. I don't know. I'm not going to even atempt to try to discover what goes on in that Hyuugas' mind. Anyway why should you care?"**

_"I don't. I just couldn't help but think that he's nervous, and if he's nervous then we have something to worry about."_

_**"Well, I guess you're right there. I don't think we have anything to worry about. We'll be fine. We didn't train under Tsunade for nothing you know."**_

_"Yeah I guess you're right. I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe I wanted to see Neji rattled for once. I've never seen him out of it. Ya that's all it was."_

**"_Right_."**

_"..."_

Sakura awoke with a start when someones hand clamped down over her mouth. She instantly tried to struggle, but another strong hand grabbed her wrists and held them down. When she finally looked up to see who it was she was a little shocked.

When Neji saw Sakura's shocked look he let go of her hands and put his finger over her mouth to tell her to be quiet.

Sakura nodded and he let her hands go. She was wondering what was wrong until she felt the slim amount of chakra nearby. She looked at him and he motioned for her to follow him. Whoever it was was in Fire territory. It must be a Stone shinobi because Tsunade took all of the patrols in this vacinity out to give Neji and Sakura a chance to get across the border.

They worked their was around the Stone shinobi in complete stealth. They were as quiet as anyone could possibly be and they had their chakra masked so well that the shinobi didn't even sense them there.

They were having a very hard time moving any closer to the border because there were a lot of Stone shinobi wandering into Fire country since there weren't any ANBU guarding it now. They all just figured they were all called back because of the missing scroll.

They finally made it around the majority of the shinobi and could sense an opening in the line that was guarding the enemy border. Unfortunately neither were sure how long that hole would be open, and they had to sneek through the enemy line to get to that hole. Both fire shinobi decided that hole must be there because all of the shinobi from that squad must be out here. Perfect.

Both of them snuck ever so stealthily in, out, and around the enemy nins to get to the boder fence.

"Sakura, once we go over this fence there isn't any going back," Neji whispered in her ear as they jumped to the tree closest to the fence.

"I know Neji. I'm not backing out of this mission," Sakura replied whispering back to him, "I know the risks. I'm not afraid."

Neji merely nodded and both of them jumped over the fence and ran threw the little bit of forest that was left on the border of Stone and Fire into Stone...

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**He. I know this is a short chapter, but it's kind of a transition chapter. I'll try to make the next one longer. Forgive Me.**


	4. Point A

Here's the new chapter.

Oh yea I forgot the disclaimer on the others I think so here.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO OR ANY ANIME :(

Sad but true.

Chapter 4

Point A

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From the tree over the fence they went with excellent stealth. There wasn't much forest on the other side of the fence. It wasn't normal to them. In fact foreign was probably an understatement. The ground that they landed on when they jumped over the fence wasn't soft like the earth in the Fire country, it was hard. There was only a small amount of forest into this country. Both of them figured it was mainly because the ground was so hard that there wasn't enough nutrients in the soil to accomodate a large amount of plantlife.

_"No wonder they call this Stone country. The ground is hard as the metal in my forehead protector. I wonder how these people live here. I definately couldn't EVER live in a place that was so...hard."_

**"Hmm. Yes it is definately different from home. The only up side to this is that we're going to get to see what Stone looks like," said Inner Sakura.**

Both Neji and Sakura darted into the minute amount of forest left before they had to find cover in the rocky surfaces somewhere nearby to try to avoid being seen before they got their mission accomplished. If they could even get to the carrier of that scroll before they were caught and had to fight with everything they had to get out of Stone back into the safety of Fire.

They definately had their chakra masked very well now. They didn't want to be spotted. Everything danger for them doubled the second they stepped over that border. The Stone shinobi would show absolutely no mercy now. Both of them knew this therefore were extremely alert. They creeped stealthily to the opposite edge of the forest that they came in from. Careful not to make any of the forest move too much, just in case their was a shinobi slinking around nearby. On their side of the border it wouldn't be unusual to see a bush or plantlife of some kind move, but here, in Stone, they doubted there to be any animals in this minute piece of forest. Therefore no reason for the plantlife to be moving. Which made their job twice as hard. Luckily there was a little bit of wind blowing that day so some of the plantlife was moving a little, which was a big help to them.

They quickly but carefully made their way towards the rocky hills to the far left of where they had come across the border from. They hadn't spotted any more Stone shinobi yet on their way to the rocky hills, travelling close to the edge of the forest, but not right on the edge of it, just in case. They couldn't be too careful right now. If they were detected in the vicinity then they needed to be able to make it back to the Fire country...FAST. Once they were over the border of the Fire country they shouldn't have to much trouble with the shinobi. The Stone shinobi wouldn't attack them, not in their own country, because they weren't even supposed to be on the other side of the fence anyway, but it would make it five times harder to get over the border undetected again. Which would mean the probability was high that they couldn't complete the mission.

Neji kept looking behind him at Sakura to make sure that she was okay and she hadn't detected any enemy shinobi since he couldn't use his Byakugan he would have to rely more on her than he really wanted to. No they didn't really click, but she was a reliable kunoichi and she had the best medical skills in Konoha, surpassing those of even Tsunade's. So he knew if they got hurt he would be in good hands. He did wish that that got along better though. Then maybe this tension wouldn't be there between them, but everytime they said anything to one another it seemed to always end up with them arguing over some trivial thing. Like that day they bumped into each other when he was on his way to Hokage tower to recieve this mission briefing. All they should have said was I'm sorry and left it at that, but no, they had to start a huge argument like normal. They have never had an actual conversation, apart from mission planning, but that was different, they couldn't argue when going over what they were going to do in a mission in order to keep the casualties at a minimum, but even then she didn't say much to him.

As his thoughts were wandering toward the ever silent alert kunoichi he thought he heard something. Unfortunately he was so delved into his thoughts about her that he forgot to signal for her to stop, so she ended up bumping into him when he stopped suddenly, afraid that they had somehow missed an enemy nin sneaking up next to them. When she bumped into him he fell lightly against a tree trunk that seemed out of place here considering it was bigger than the others, but he could hear water running nearby so he knew that it was probably just the soil and water from the stream that made the tree grow to twice the other tree trunks' widths.

Sakura and Neji had been moving quickly but carefully towards the rocky hills that they had decided to use for cover until catching up to the person that had stolen the scroll. He would be taking a route that passed through some mountains on his way to the Hidden Village of Stone. She was trying to concentrate on the plan so that she would know it up and down by the time they had to set it into action. They knew that the person that stole the scroll wasn't a shinobi and was traveling alone because he thought he got out of it unscathed and unfollowed, however, that was just so they could set up a surprise attack. At least they weren't going to have to fight through an army of enemy nin to get that stupid scroll.

Unfortunately, as she was atempting to go over the plan in her head again her mind began to wander, to the silent white eyed Hyuuga in front of her. She was starting to wonder some of the same things as he was. Why hadn't they ever been able to have just one actual conversation? Why did they argue everytime the saw each other? It was actually kind of starting to aggrivate her, she just didn't understand. What was it about him that riled her up so much? It was probably those white eyes of his. Everytime he looked at her it was like he was staring right through her. It got frustrating after a while.

Running behind him she now started to notice how much he had actually grown up since she last actually had a look at him like that. The first time was a little after Sasuke left, Ino and her had become friends, and they were walking down the street heading for one of the training grounds. Ino had finally convinced her to stop sulking around in her house and come out and spar with her. When they were walking down the road talking Ino had stopped to look at something, so Sakura turned around to see what she was looking at, when she saw Ino staring at the pale faced Hyuuga. That was the first time she had ever checked out any other man besides Sasuke. He was well built back then too, tall, long dark brown hair, glistening white eyes, perfect skin. She could remember thinking about how handsome he actually was now that she actually had a look. Then the unfortunate happened. He turned around and saw them staring at him. She had whirled around and started to walk off dragging Ino with her, face as red as Gaara's hair. She just knew he saw them staring. She hasn't looked at him like that since, and now she caught herself doing it.

Every now and then she would catch him turn his head to look at her a little, and began unconciously wondering what he was thinking about. She was kind of checking him out and she didn't want him to know it. She knew that he would have to detect it like a normal person since he couldn't use his Byakugan; for that she was grateful.

She had turned her head to look out of the meager forest to see if there were any shinobi out there so they could hide if need be when all of a sudden she ran right into Neji. They both fell forward her landing against his chest, his arms instinctively wrapping around her, him falling into a tree. She instantly looked up at him, into those wonderful white Hyuuga eyes. They stared at each other for what seemed like forever, when they both heard a rustle in a nearby bush. They both turned and looked at the bush, waiting for whatever it was to either make himself known or go away, hoping for the later they just waited. As the tension was mounting neither of them moved, in hopes it wasn't a shinobi. They couldn't sense a chakra, but the enemy could have been masking it with a very good jutsu, when out popped a squirell.

Both of them letting out a breath that they didn't know they were holding looked at each other again. The second she looked into those mystical white orbs she started blushing, averting her gaze to his chest while trying to stop the blush that had crept onto her face she took a few deep breaths.

**"Whoo-hoo go Sakura! Yessssss. We are leaning against the almighty Hyuuga Neji!" yelled Inner Sakura with triumph.**

_"Oh. My. God. I can't believe this! Shit I'm blushing! Oh no what if he sees it? He'll think I like him or something!"_

**"Well liking him wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. I mean it's not like the thought hasn't crossed your mind. Plus he is very hot," smirked Inner Sakura.**

_"That thought has **never** crossed my mind."_

**"Believe what you want, but I know different, I am your mind remember. Come on. You were just now checking him out, and don't you even try denying it."**

_"..."_

She was really about to start arguing with her inner self when something Neji said caught her attention.

"Um Sakura?" Neji asked softly, "Could you get off of me?" he said, making it come out a lot ruder than he meant it to really be. Fortunately for him the softness with which he said it overtook the rudeness making it sound alright.

"Oh! Neji I'm so sorry, that was so clumsy of me! Here," she exclaimed rather quietly while jumping back a few feet and holding out her hand to help him off of the tree.

"No no. It was my fault. I gave you no warning that I was stopping," Neji said quietly taking her hand and allowing her to pull him forward off of the tree. "We better get going. We have to make it a ways into those rocks before nightfall and find somewhere to camp for the night. Hopefully it won't get too cold because we can't risk lighting a fire now. We might be spotted."

She just looked up at him and nodded, "Let's go."

As she took off towards the rocky hills they were headed for he fell into step behind her this time. As he was looking at her running towards the hills which were now more visable his gaze slowly drifted towards the hills that looked like they were kind of rough which would mean less of a time getting up them and traveling through them. While he was calculating approximately how much longer it would take for them to reach point A, which ironically was the point-of-no-return, he felt his gaze slip back to the running form in front of him and felt himself start to smirk. He could remember that time that he caught her and her friend Ino checking him out not to long after the third member of team 7 took off. The main thing he remembered was how red her face got when he turned around and caught them staring. She grabbed the blonde haired blue eyed Ino and pulled her away from there as fast as she could drag her. From what he heard Ino hadn't figured out that she was checking him out. If she had it would have been all over Konoha.

He couldn't help but think of what her face looked like when they looked at each other after they fell against the tree. They had actually looked at each other that time. She had sustained his gaze for what felt like an eternity, but was really only a few seconds. Then he got a little irritated that they ended up in that position because of a fricking squirell, but he couldn't say that he didn't necessarily like it, the feeling was nice. It had been a long while since he had had someone that close to him. He and Tenten had tried dating right after the chuunin exams, but it didn't work out. They were only attracted to each other a little bit. Plus Tenten was more like a sister to him than anything else, which made it very awkward.

After she ran into him because of his carelessness he somehow managed to turn around to face her, kind of in surprise, and as they were falling he felt himself wrap his arms around her waist. She didn't see it because she was looking at his chest at the time, but he actually blushed when he felt his arms wrap around her waist. He had his blush under control by the time she looked up at him. When she made eye contact with him he felt himself being washed away in a dark pool of emerald. Those eyes had him entranced with their solemnity for a few seconds there, even though he hated to admit that to himself. He hated breaking that staring contest, but that noise in the bushes, he knew, had them tense for a few minutes there. When he looked back at her again and she quickly averted her eyes he could tell she was blushing. He had to actually try to hold that patented poker face of his in place. He wanted to smirk so badly, but thought against it because he didn't want her to feel more awkward than he knew she already did. He was almost reluctant to tell her to get off of him, but he would never admit that to himself or anyone else.

He duly noted that, as they were nearing the craggy hills of Stone, she had definately changed since he last took an actual look at her. He did that right before the chuunin exams. Only to see if she was going to be anything to worry about for his teammates. He knew he had nothing to worry about from her, back then. She had trained with the fifth Hokage since then, but her power wasn't the only thing that had changed apparantly. She was now seventeen, and she definately had grown up...

He was stopped in mid thought when she signaled for him to stop. Once he stopped, only then did he realize that they were in position to get into the hills as fast as they could go without using their chakra. They were about thirty feet from point A, or the point-of-no-return, as he liked to call it. They couldn't go back without the scroll after they crossed that point, both knew that.

"Do you see anything?" Sakura whispered in his direction.

To which he had to look around for a few moments before concluding that everything was clear. He hated not being able to use his Byakugan. "No I don't see anything. We're clear to go."

Sakura looked at him and nodded. They got as close to the edge of the forest as they could get whilest looking around, double-checking and triple-checking the area around them for any signs of enemy nins moving about. Then they made a mad dash for the craggy hills. These hills would turn into mountainous areas the further they went into Stone.

Once in the hills Sakura noticed some things. Once there was absolutely no brush of any kind, with the exception of a tree here a meager bush there, which meant that there would be no place for them to hide if some enemy patrols happened to come by. It was probably around six in the afternoon. It took them so long to get there because they couldn't use any chakra. Plus they couldn't really run through that sad excuse for a forest. If they did they would have to worry constantly about an enemy nin seeing them run. Which they couldn't have. They were picked for this mission because they were two of the best stealth ninja in Konoha. The hills were pretty steep going up. They were black and grey, sometimes had a little white on them. For the most part they were pretty rocky and rough. Which meant they wouldn't have such a hard time climbing up them as she thought they were going to. It would have sucked if they had to climb up smooth surfaces without the use of their chakra.

Once there they decided to stop at the first deep cave that they came to for the night. Neither of them wanted to be outside in the Stone country at night. They would be easy to catch at night. They weren't used to the nights here. Tsunade had warned them that nights here could get especially cold, and they seemed especially dark. (I won't bore you with the details during their search.)

When they got to the cave night was starting to fall. The cave they found had a very small entrance, and since they weren't going to light a fire for fear they would be detected a small entrance was a welcoming gift. They went into the cave and took off their packs and set them on the floor near the wall. They only had blankets since they had to leave their tents and cots in the forest when some slinky Stone nins came into Fire country and almost found them before they even got started.

_"Hmm. I wonder what's up with Neji. I mean he has kinda been out of it for a while."_

**"That's a good question. Maybe he's thinking about you, him, and the tree."**

_"He is not. Don't even start on that. That was a total accident and you know it. He was just so surprised that he hadn't felt any chakra that he forgot to signa to me."_

**"Eeh. Wrong. Honestly Sakura. Even if he had of signaled you you wouldn't have even noticed. You were to busy thinking about how built he is."**

_"WHAT. That is so totally wrong. I was just admiring his muscle structure. As a medic nin I notice these things. I have to evaluate his muscle structure to be able to tell how well he could probably take a hit so I know how long to wait to help him if need be."_

**"Ya. You keep telling yourself that girl. As I said before I know better."**

_"Oh shut up..."_

Her thoughts were interrupted when a deep silky smooth voice filled her ears.

"Haruno."

"Hmm. What Neji?" she asked, she was so deep in thought that she hadn't noticed it when she used just his first name.

Neji was shocked, although he didn't show it. He had never heard her just use his first name, unless her really pissed her off. On the inside it made his mind race. He noticed that she didn't realize what she just said so he didn't say anything about it really.

"Mmm. Sakura. We need to discuss our next move now that we're in Stone safely in this cave, for now," he said pulling out a map of Stone. "We are very close to this place here. The road that we need to get to to get the scroll is here. So I think we actually got farther than we initially planned today, but that's good. It gives us more of a chance to cut him off before he gets to the Hidden Village of Stone. So we will head towards that road tomorrow, being watchful for Stone nins."

She nodded when he outlined the plan that would initiate tomorrow. "Alright," suddenly she stopped, the shock showing on her face as she just now noticed that he'd used her first name instead of calling her Haruno like he normally did. "T-That sounds like a great plan to me."

He had to smirk as he saw the look of complete shock on her face when she realized that he used her first name. Since she was looking at the floor of the cave she didn't see him smirk. He was enjoying the fact that her face had now turned a bright red to match the look of shock on her face. When she looked up at him he quickly put on his poker face so she didn't see the smirk.

"Well, we should probably get some sleep now," He knew this was probably not a very good idea, but his body was exhausted and he knew that hers was as well. Neither of them would be able to stay asleep long enough to keep watch.

Laying down on the cold floor with nothing but a blanket didn't bother either of them and they fell asleep quickly, but after a couple hours she woke up shivering from the cold. She couldn't go back to sleep so she decided to just volunteer for watch.

When he heard her sit up he knew that she must not be able to sleep. If she stayed up she would put the mission in danger, which he could _not_ allow. At least that's the excuse he gave himself.

Sakura was just sitting there watching the entrance, not even paying attention, when all of a sudden two strong arms wrapped around her. It startled her a little bit until a silky smooth voice spoke in a whisper into her ear.

"Sakura. You need to get some sleep." Neji. Sakura knew, so her body relaxed. "I can't. It's too cold to sleep," she replied.

He didn't even think about it before his arms picked her up and put her over where he was sleeping, grabbing her blanket too. His body seemed to be acting of its own accord, and he was powerless to stop it. He pulled his blanket out from under her and put it on her. She seemed about to protest until he got under both covers with her.

Her whole face turned red when he picked her up and put her down where he was sleeping. He put his blanket over her and hers. She was fixing to tell him that this wasn't necessary and he should keep his blanket, until he crawled under them with her. She just opened and closed her mouth, unable to say anything. She decided that it was okay and layed down with her back facing him. When she got situated he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. From the way he was breathing she could swear that he was asleep. So she didn't object. Not wanting to wake him she allowed the close proximity.

He knew that she thought he was asleep, but he wasn't. In truth, he just wanted to feel her in his arms again, but once again the Hyuuga wasn't going to admit to this without a fight. He could feel her tense at first, he was about to let her go, being afraid of him was something that he didn't want her to be. Then she relaxed and moved back so that there was practically no space in between his chest and her back, for a second there he almost lost his breathing control. He didn't expect her to actually allow this closeness, but it was conforting and warm so it was okay. Not to mention good for the mission. (wink wink)

He snuggled his head in the crease of her neck and shoulder and really fell asleep.

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Thnx for the reviews. 

The fight scenes need work yes I know. I will definately push all the buttons in my brain to come up with a better one. I've never written a fight scene before that one so I had no inspiration.

I made this chapter longer. The others were short so I decided it was time to step it up a little. Hope you like this one.

Please Review. Constructive Critisism welcome.


	5. Close Call

**OMG I AM SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT:((( THE STUPID UPLOADER WOULDN'T UPLOAD IT. I KNOW. STUPID EXCUSE. WELL HERE IT IS. IF YA WANT I'LL DO A FEW REQUESTS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER FOR YOU BECAUSE YOU HAD TO WAIT SO LONG:((( JUST REVIEW AND TELL ME. IF IT CAN BE PUT INTO THE STORY LINE IN MY IMAGINATION THEN IT WILL DEFINATELY GO. IF I CAN'T FIT IT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER I'LL PUT IT IN THE ONE AFTER! THANKX . please enjoy:D**

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Neji woke up early in the morning, as usual. At first he didn't even remember being on a mission. So when he woke up you can just imagine the look on his face when he woke up in a cave. Needless to say he was very surprised, for like a second, until he remembered the mission he was on. Then he went back to the usual poker face of his. He didn't activate his Byakugan to look around like he would normally do because he remembered where exactly he was. He hated wearing himself out. It always causes problems the next morning. He was fine until he felt some movement beside him. 

He looked down and saw a pink haired kunoichi by the name of Sakura snuggled up close to him and all of the color drained from his face. He practically jumped away from there to the opposite side of the cave. Without waking her at that. She just grabbed the covers and wrapped herself back up in them, while Neji was about to have a heart attack.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Neji thought while trying to calm his heart down before it exploded from the shock.

Flashback

Sakura was just sitting there watching the entrance, not even paying attention, when all of a sudden two strong arms wrapped around her. It startled her a little bit until a silky smooth voice spoke in a whisper into her ear.

"Sakura. You need to get some sleep." Neji. Sakura knew, so her body relaxed. "I can't. It's too cold to sleep," she replied.

He didn't even think about it before his arms picked her up and put her over where he was sleeping, grabbing her blanket too. His body seemed to be acting of its own accord, and he was powerless to stop it. He pulled his blanket out from under her and put it on her. She seemed about to protest until he got under both covers with her.

Her whole face turned red when he picked her up and put her down where he was sleeping. He put his blanket over her and hers. She was fixing to tell him that this wasn't necessary and he should keep his blanket, until he crawled under them with her. She just opened and closed her mouth, unable to say anything. She decided that it was okay and layed down with her back facing him. When she got situated he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. From the way he was breathing she could swear that he was asleep. So she didn't object. Not wanting to wake him she allowed the close proximity.

He knew that she thought he was asleep, but he wasn't. In truth, he just wanted to feel her in his arms again, but once again the Hyuuga wasn't going to admit to this without a fight. He could feel her tense at first, he was about to let her go, being afraid of him was something that he didn't want her to be. Then she relaxed and moved back so that there was practically no space in between his chest and her back, for a second there he almost lost his breathing control. He didn't expect her to actually allow this closeness, but it was conforting and warm so it was okay. Not to mention good for the mission.

He snuggled his head in the crease of her neck and shoulder and really fell asleep.

End Flashback

"Oh yeah. I remember now. Crap. I can't believe I actually did that."

"I'm definately going to have to straighten this out when she wakes up. I must have been really tired last night to do something like that. Geez."

Neji sighed, got up, and went to go look for some little sticks to burn a small fire with so he could make some breakfast. First, he looked to see if there were any Stone nin around anywhere. Luckily there hadn't been any last night. They probably would have gotten caught for sure if there had have been.

Since there weren't any shinobi around he went out to get some sticks to burn on the fire. Considering that is probably all he would find in Stone country. Fourtunately, he didn't have to stay out long before he found enough sticks to make a small fire. So with sticks in tow he went back inside the cave to start making breakfast so they could get on with their mission. When he got back inside he noticed that she was awake. He decided that over breakfast he would explain his behavior last night.

As Sakura was waking up she stretched and noticed the absence of a young Hyuuga. So she sat up afraid that there might be something wrong. She sat up and looked around and didn't see anything or hear anything that would show signs of there having been something wrong. Besides surely he would wake her up if something went wrong. Sitting there she stretched some more.

**"Hmm. I wonder where Neji went," said Inner Sakura.**

_"I don't know. Probably to get some sticks to start a fire so we can eat breakfast and get going."_

**"Ya. Well I know that we haven't slept that good in a long time. He was really warm. Maybe you should try to warm up a little to him. You know talk to him a little, put on that Sakura charm that you used to use on Sasuke."**

_"Are you saying that I like him?! If you are you know the answer is I don't. Me and Neji? No. That's impossible. That would be a disaster waiting to happen. We can't even talk to each other without fighting. I mean anything other than mission details."_

**"Hello! I'm you remember. I know all of that. I also know that you like him. More than just mere acquaintances."**

_"Ok. Fine. I like him as a friend, but nothing more than that. This discussion is over."_

**"Sure. Whatever."**

She sat up and started stretching, getting the sleep out of her system. As she sat there dealing with her inner self Neji cam in with a small load of firesticks. Unfortunately, since there isn't very many trees there are only a few sticks lying around.

Neji walked in with a few sticks thinking about the "incident" of last night. He had decided to explain his behavior, but he didn't even understand his behavior. So how was he supposed to explain it to her. He didn't want to lie to her, that would be beneath him, so he decided to decipher it his way and just lay it out in the open for her.

"Oh. Hello Neji," said Sakura, a little startled because she didn't hear him walk in. She was too busy argueing with her inner self. "Did you sleep well?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Neji said, feeling a little awkward at that moment. He'd hoped that he'd have a little longer to think about what he was going to say. He definately didn't have a clue as to how he was going to even bring it up, much less explain it. He hated having to rush this, but he decided that an explination was necessary before they began traveling for the day.

He made a small fire while she packed the blankets and other things that weren't necessary for making breakfast with. She was starting to wonder how they were going to find firewood once they got further into Stone. Since Neji barely came back with anything at all this time. She figured they would probably have to live off of the many, many protein bars they brought along.

Breakfast was finished and they both sat there in total silence while they ate. It wasn't a big breakfast, just a small one. Right after Neji finished it he put the fire out. So no one would show up enexpected like and foil the mission. During that time Sakura was constantly pondering about the mission, what happened last night, and about everyone back in Konoha. When suddenly Neji started talking to her and snapped her right out of her thoughts.

"Sakura. About last night. I don't know what came over me. I'm pretty sure it all had to do with the mission and the fact that if you didn't get any sleep it would jepordize that. I didn't mean to be forward. So don't really think anything of it. I just wanted to make sure you got rest for the mission, and to do that you had to be warm so that you could sleep," Neji stated, really quickly and very Neji-like. Meaning it was totally monotoned and virtually no emotion what so ever.

"Oh. Well thanks, and yeah we wouldn't want to jepordize the mission right? So, thanks for that," Sakura said, without managing to show any dissapointment in her voice. Neji would have seen it on her face if he had been looking at her instead of admiring how magnificent the cave floor looked with all of its dirt and cracks.

"Well, when you're finished we can leave," Neji said as he put the eating utensils back into his pack. Hoping that she would be done quickly so they could get moving. It would be really bad if someone found this place with them still in it. Fortunately for them, there are patrols in this area somewhere, so if this cave was found without them in it the Stone nins would probably think that this cave had some of their people in it instead of some enemy nins.

"Okay, Neji I'm finished. We can get moving now," Sakura said while putting her things in her pack. If they were better friends her coldness woudn't be uncommen, but since they don't normally get along with regular conversation, he didn't think anything of it.

Soon after they had picked up everything that was their's Sakura peeked out of the cave to make sure that there weren't any enemy nins around outside, while Neji took to trying to sense chakra from inside of the cave, since he couldn't use his Byakugan. There weren't any enemy nins around, so they both stepped out of the cave and started to walk down the small split in the rocky hills that they had taken cover in. There were tall hills on each side of them, so it was like a crevice...almost. Some of the hills had jagged edges, some were smooth, but the best thing about these hills is that they served as a great hiding place if an enemy nin came along. Plenty of cave-like structures for them to hide in, big boulders for them to hide behind, and weird cliff things that they could hide under.

The duo were both walking down this crevice when Neji felt multiple chakra patterns headed this way. He frantically started looking around for somewhere they could hide, and found a place. Albeit a small place, but it was the only place there was at this particular point in the hills. He grabbed Sakura by her left wrist, told her to hide her chakra, and drug her to the small cliff with an opening underneath it with a medium sized boulder in front of it obscureing the majority of it from view. Neji pushed her in first and went in behind her. Turns out this little hiding place was a lot smaller than previously thought. Needless-to-say Neji was laying partially on top of Sakura.

Both of them waited until the enemy shinobi had passed them by, then and only then did they notice the compromising postion that they had put themselves in. Neji was laying with his upper body on Sakura's upper body. He had one of his arms on either side of her head and when he turned to tell her that they were gone his lips were only inches from hers.

They just layed there for a few minutes, not being able to say anything. Then Neji got a hold of himself and slid off of her and out of the small hiding place muttering apologies as he went. When he turned around so that he wasn't facing her a blush came on his face.

"Oh man. I can't believe I was laying on her like that. WHY do we keep getting into these compromising situations? More like how. I can't believe I did it...again. Well, at least this time I don't have to explain to her why we ended up that way. If we didn't go in there we would have been caught for sure," Neji thought while making his blush deepen a little more. Which really did stick out on his face seeing it's so pale and all.

"So, Neji, can we get going now? It is getting hot out here. It's probably sometime around noon," Sakura said to Neji's back as she crawled out of the hiding place with a pretty large blush on her cheeks. She couldn't see that Neji had one too.

Composing himself rather quickly he turned around to look at her retreating form as she walked towards their destination point. He opened his mouth as if to say something to her retreating form, but he ended up closing it again and catching up to her. By then her blush was gone and they just started going along at a steady pace in pretty much utter silence. Both of them had way to much going on in their minds to even think about talking to one another, besides they were both still a little embarrassed about what happened earlier.

_"Oh my God. I can't believe we were that close to Hyuuga Neji. This is a little odd for me."_

**"Oh be quiet. That was awsome. I bet no one has been that close to him. Ever. This is like monumental."**

_"No. I'm just a little startled is all. I got to sleep right next to him last night, then I ended up with him laying on top of me just a few freaking minutes ago. What in the hell is going on here? It's not like I'm mad or anything it's just that it seems the world is purposely trying to get me and him to touch. That is very weird. Yeah this probably is monumental. I can't wait to tell Ino! Oh wait, on second though scratch that. If I tell her everyone will know within an hour."_

**"Well, yes I agree to being just a bit startled, but who cares. You need to lighten up. Why don't you just try to start a conversation with him, try getting to know him a little better. It might make it easier for you to ask him out later."**

_"WHAT?! Are you totally insane? No, wait don't answer that. I told you. I. Don't. Like. Him. Like. That. What part of that don't you understand? Plus there is no way we can actually have a conversation. We always end up fighting over the stupidest things. That and I don't like him like that. No I seriously do not."_

**"Yeah sure. Would you quit trying to kid yourself? I know that you think he's hot. I'm you. For some reason you seem to be "accidentally" forgeting that a lot lately. I think that you do like him like that. I mean come on. You were so blushing when you got out of that cave."**

_"So maybe I was blushing, but that's just because I haven't ever let a man get that close to me before. Plus...WHATEVER, I don't have to explain anything to you! Now I said I don't like him. So deal with it."_

**"Alright. Whenever you are ready to admit your real feelings all you have to do is just say so. I'm here all of the time."**

After that Inner Sakura just left Sakura to her thoughts, and they walked the rest of the day. Stopping every now and then to take a break, since they weren't using any of their chakra to heighten their strength and stamina, not to mention speed. Soon as night was falling they came across a small town at the bottom of a downhill slope. It wasn't too big, but it wasn't to small either. It was nicely lit, but considering it was a Stone country town they couldn't let go of their guard. There were sure to be some odd characters in this place.

"Neji can't we stay in that little town down there just for tonight. We can take off our forehead protectors and put them in our bags. There is also going to be a restaurand or two in there," Sakura pleaded.

Neji's desire for a bed finally overcame his impulse to sleep in a rock cave another night. At least he wouldn't have to sleep with her again tonight. "Alright, but don't talk to anyone unless we really need to. I don't want any distractions or mistakes that could cost us the mission."

**"Alright! Score! One us zero Neji. Maybe he isn't so cold after all. At least now we know that he is indeed human. He must be desiring a nice warm room and bed just like we are. Probably restaurant food too."**

_"Hmm. Yeah. Maybe the poker-faced prodigy isn't so bad after all."_

With that they both headed down the hill and into the town to get a hotel and some nicely deserved sleep. They weren't expecting to find what they found when they got there though. They took one step into the front gates and were in awe. Neither of them knew what to say. They just stood there looking around thinking of which way they should head. They thing that both of them noticed that they were completely grateful for was the fact that their were absolutely no shinobi to be seem...anywhere.

Now goes the side mission to get to the hotel and get some sleep and some room service without getting lost in the sea of buildings and roads.

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Well if you like it then review! Reviews help keep a story in motion! If I think you don't like it it's hard for me to continue! HAVE FUN:D 


	6. Neji's Worst Nightmare

**Alright here it is. This is my longest chapter yet. Five and a half pages. Sorry it's so short compared to most of the others. As I said this is my first fanfic. I tried to incorporate the special requests that were sent to me due to the lateness of the last chapter. I hope they are satisfactory. :) **

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Chapter Six

Neji's Worst Nightmare

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"Ugh," Neji thought as they got to the bottom of the hill and could see the towns entrance gates just a few meters ahead of them. "This is going to be horrible. Maybe I could just convince her to sleep in another cave farther down the trail. I mean it wouldn't be so bad. No way would she want to choose a crowded town with plenty of cooked food and soft beds over the rough wilderness. Hmph. Yeah right."

As the duo walked in the gates, there were no guards, they took a look around to see if maybe there was anyone nearby that might be nice enough to point out an inn that maybe nearby. Unfortunately, there was no one. Everybody there seemed to be, for the most part, pretty rough looking. Many of them were carrying goods from one of the small shops to the next.

They had entered the front gate which went right into the market, considering that's what most of the people that go there go for. The majority of the people there were men. Most of them had clothing that was cut in many places with many stains of different colors. You could tell that they worked hard for a living. If you didn't automatically think them thieves. They had scars all over their faces and some of them had burn marks. All of them had rough, calloused hands, probably from working small farms where they found the soil soft and fertil enough, or they were metal workers. The demand for metal was greater in this country than the others due to the harsh environment. Horses had to be shoed properly at all times. By the look of things Neji and Sakura were surprised that they could afford to buy a horse anyway.

Before they walked in Neji put on some sunglasses, so as not to attract any unwanted attention. White eyes are not very common around here. Where it is pretty common in Fire country to see a man or woman with white eyes it isn't here. If any shinobi came around and stopped long enough to talk to anyone who had seen him without his sunglasses on they would probably thell the shinobi about his white Hyuuga eyes. Which would probably ulitmately lead to mission failure, with them dead, or even worse with them captured.

While they were standing there deciding which way to go an elderly woman walked by them, with a long beige skirt, down to her feet, and a long sleeved button up beige shirt. She carried a bag of rice that she had just bartered some wheat for.

"Excuse me ma'am?" Sakura asked sweetly before Neji could suggest otherwise. "Could you please tell us where an inn might be. We have been traveling all day and are mighty tired," she lied expertly.

"Wha-Oh an inn, yes. Well there is one a three blocks that way and a few to the right," she replied. Then quickly started walking away towards her destination.

"Well, Neji. Let's go. I don't want to stand here while you daze out all night, " Sakura said before she headed towards the street with the market on it.

Neji just nodded and started walking behind her. He got closer than he normally would to her considering just how many people were here in this place. He almost got pushed away from her when a big man with quite a few tattoos got between them, but he hurriedly caught up to her and grabbed her hand with his own. Which initially shocked the hell out of her. She yanked her hand towards her and got ready to fight until she turned around and saw it was Neji.

"What the- Neji?! What are you doing? You shouldn't scare a person like that. It's rude you know," Sakura scolded him while blushing a little bit from the contact, even if it was just a hand.

"We cannot get separated in this crowd. This is the only way to ensure that we do not. It doesn't mean anything. It's just keeping us from getting separated. Neither of us need to get lost in this place," Neji replied with as much monotone as ever, but he was looking away from her with a slight blush on his face that because of the angle of his face she couldn't see.

"Oh. Okay," She replied as she turned around so Neji couldn't see her blush deepen.

**"Hey, Hey. You're holding his hand girl. What did I tell you. Romance will so bloom in this mission. It seems as if you and he are destined to be together by the way you guys keep "accidentally" touching each other. You both should just quit trying to save face and tell yourselves the truth."**

_"I don't know what you're talking about, and I'm starting to be pretty sure that you don't even know yourself half of the time."_

**"Quit playing dumb with me. I'm YOU remember? How many times do I have to say it? Oh and I do to know what I'm talking about. You are telling yourself that this "holding hands thing" is only for the good of the mission. You just told yourself that a few seconds ago. If you're thinking this then I know Neji is."**

_"You are really starting to bug me about liking Neji, you know. I already told you. I. Don't. Like. Him. What part of that can't you understand? Now quit bringing it up."_

**"For your information. I am not blind nor deaf. I see what you see, hear what you hear, think what you-no wait. Well, you get the picture. As for what you asked. I believe it's the Don't that I don't understand. You need to just admit it to yourself and him."**

_"..."_

They were walking down the street through the market as best as they could with all of the hustle and bustle around them. They were having to walk so close together it was unreal. Neji didn't like this kind of close contact. They were walking down the market street and decided they were going to take a brake in a small jut into an alley with a wooden fence blocking the majority of it.

Sakura squeezed through the crowd and into the small but wide alley way. It probably only went about five feet inside before it was blocked off by a fence. Neji had to let go of her hand for a moment while he squeezed through the mass of pushy and foul mouthed people.

As he was going towards Sakura to take a rest in the alley from all of the crowding people a couple men saw Neji standing in front of her with her facing him and automatically thought that she was a prostitute out to make a little money in that small alley. That was what it was for actually, so it wouldn't be the first time they've seen some man like that there with a woman.

The two men walked up behind Neji and shoved him as they were walking by. He ended up stumbling forward into Sakura and pushing her up against the fence. She had closed her eyes and braced for the impact of them both on the ground. But when her back just him something solid without it knocking the breath out of her she opened her eyes to look directly into Neji's white ones. Needless to say she was shocked.

Neji was just standing over her, barely any distance in between them, with one of his hands placed on the side of her head bracing himself so he doesn't close the couple of inches they have left between them, and the other arm was wrapped around her lower back and some of her lower waist holding her against him out of reflex so she wouldn't fall. When she opened her eyes and looked directly into his he could see the complete shock that registered on her face of him being so close to her.

Their faces were only about five inches away from each other. So he could see her start to blush at their close proximity. Truth to be told, he had never been as close to a girl as he has been with her this entire trip. This closeness just wasn't something that he was used to. So why couldn't he get his body to move from this, as he deemed it, seriously intimate, position. This wasn't normal, Neji always had complete control over his body.

He could feel his body start to tremble with him being this close to a woman. He wasn't quite sure how to handle this. This was just an accident right? Those two men pushed him forward and he bumped her and he had to catch a hold of her so she wouldn't fall. If that was the case then why is his body reacting this way. This shouldn't be such a problem. He could feel his face begin to heat up. He new he was starting to blush.

She didn't make a move to get away from him while he was holding her there like that. She was blushing as red as a tomato though. After what felt like forever, he slowly began to relinquish his hold against her body. She could see his face changing colors. She could feel his body start to tremble uncontrolably. She should mind being this close to him, but she didn't even try to get away from him. Well, she tried to make him relinquish his hold on her earlier, but her body just wouldn't cooperate with her. For some reason she liked being held like that, by him.

_"NO. This is impossible! My body wouldn't move! Not even an inch!"_

**"Not that there was an inch to move."**

_"YOU SHUT UP!"_

**"Okay just saying."**

_"Well don't."_

"Uh. Maybe we should get going to the inn," Neji said, somehow managing to keep his voice from breaking or trembling. He felt so awkward at that moment. More awkward than he'd ever felt in his entire life. Now realizing that his sunglasses had fallen off when those men pushed him, and he bent down and picked them up, cleaning them off on his shirt, and put them back on.

"Uh. Okay then," Sakura said quietly as she tried to compose herself and stop her mad blush. "We should hurry and get there before their aren't any more rooms left."

"Right. We don't want to end up leaving because there were no rooms left in the inn," Neji spoke just as quietly as she did.

They quickly composed themselves, linked hands, for safety purposess, and went back out into the busy market place, they still had to walk about four blocks. Hopefully they could get through the market street without anymore distractions. Neji would see to it that they didn't stop anymore, that was for sure.

By the time they got to the inn it was already dark outside. She estimated it to be around six or six thirty. It got darker here faster than back in Konoha. Godaime Hokage Tsunade had told her that. The people were starting to light the outside lights of their houses to shed some light on the roads, which weren't as crouded now.

Neji entered the inn first. It was a decent place for them to stay. It wasn't luxurious or anything like that, but if they stayed in a place that was expensive someone might start asking questions which was something they absolutely could not afford. He looked around for a moment and saw that it had a den where you could sit and play cards or eat dinner if you wanted to. Which meant that they could probably have dinner in their room. He decided that it was probably better if they shared a room and just got one with two beds than to get two different rooms and make it suspicious. Besides they had to be more alert in a town.

"May I help you?" asked the clerk behind the desk.

"Yes, we want one room with two beds," came Neji's monotonous reply.

**"He sure gets back to his old self quickly doesn't he?"**

_"Oh please. Don't even think for a second that he actually liked what happened to us in the alley. Neji isn't like that. This is a mission and he will keep it professional. Besides, I'm not Neji's type."_

Inner Sakura took note that this time Sakura didn't argue about whether or not she liked him. She was just making up excuses for Neji not having feelings for her now. She was so proud of the fact that they were a step closer to getting what she knew they both wanted, even if Sakura had yet to say the words to herself in her head.

She was snapped out of her not so uncommon daze by Neji saying thank you to the man at the desk and handing him the money for their stay. She just kind of looked up at Neji with shy eyes. She was now seeing him in a whole new light. Not that she didn't know that he wasn't sexy as hell before now, but she was just now admitting that he was sexy enough for her to _maybe_ be interested in.

He gave the inn keeper one of his patented Hyuuga glares as he grabbed the key to their room, number 6, when he saw that the inn keeper was looking at Sakura with a lustful look in his eyes. This man was wishing if he thought that he was going to get _that _from Sakura. He knew Sakura enough to tell that she wouldn't even glance at a sick pervert like this. Plus she was sleeping in a room with _him _and that definately would _not_ be happening.

Neji quickly grabbed her hand and drug her away from the ever watchful eyes of the perverted desk clerk. She really didn't need that loathesome man looking at her that way. Halfway there when he was sure they were a safe distance from that vile man he slowed to a walk. Her hand still in his. He didn't even notice that he'd done that. He just wanted her away from that lustful creaton.

She pulled on his hand which pulled him back into perspective and stopped his inner mind rampage against the inn keeper. He turned around to see what it was that she wanted and she pointed to the door they were about three feet past. It had a six on it. "We are here. Our room number is six isn't it, or maybe I read the key tag wrong.?" She half stated half asked him at the same time.

"No, no. You didn't read it wrong. I just was busy pondering about the mission," He quickly lied, hoping that she wouldn't catch on to the real reason behind his deep thinking. He was pretty sure that she didn't see the inn keepers eyes on her. For that he was thankful. She probably would have given away their cover by beating him to death.

She looked at him, nodded, and grabbed the key out of his right had. He easily let her left hand go so she could unlock the door. That's when he noticed that he'd been holding her hand the _entire_ way to their room. At that he felt kind of awkward. He had subconciously done that, without any initiative from a crowded room or without something bad enough happening to her that he would absolutely have to grab her hand. This was really starting to make him feel uneasy.

She got the door unlocked without much trouble and stepped into the hotel room. It was pretty big, without any windows in it whatsoever. Sakura couldn't help but think that just a little odd. Everywhere she had always stayed had at least one window in it. At the moment she was just a little too excited to care. While thinking on that she had walked in and looked in the bathroom, which had a large bathtub in it. That took all of her attention instantly. She felt so dirty and grimy from their long trek through Stone and Fire. She hadn't bathed since the morning they left. She decided at once that the first thing she was going to do was take a bath. Whether Neji liked it or not.

She went and threw her pack down on the bed to the far right and streched,"Neji I'm taking this bed and I'm going to go take a bath."

Neji just threw his pack down on the bed on the far left and nodded to her. He noticed the tone in her voice that meant that it wasn't up for discussion. After she went into the bathroom and he heard the door lock he started to think back to what happened earlier with the desk clerk. It almost seemed like he was jealous now that he thinks about it, but that would be an absured thing to say. Hyuuga Neji doesn't get jealous. He was just worried about his partner for this mission. That's all it could be.

Once that thought crossed his mind he decided that he was finished thinking about it. All thinking about it succeeds in doing is making him dwell on it longer. He really wished he could meditate, but that means he would have to use his chakra. That could get them caught. He was sure that there weren't any shinobi in this village, but it's better to be safe than sorry. If he did throw his chakra and someone felt him not only would they be in danger, but so would the mission. Tsunade-sama practically told him that if he came back from this mision with himself alive that she would give him a reward, and if he came back from this mission with Sakura alive she would give him something that he wanted really bad.

There is only one thing that he could think of that he wanted that bad that she could actually do something about. He wanted to become an ANBU captain. So Sakura was definately coming back alive, if he had to carry her the whole way. As he let his thoughts wander from one thing to the other he slowly started to drift asleep. He never realized just how tired he really was until he layed down on that bed and started to dwell on his thoughts, and slowly he began to fall asleep.

Sakura ran the bathwater hot like she liked it. She wanted to get in there and soak for a while. She definately needed this. They had been traveling for a long while each day. It's not that she was physically weak, just that she hadn't done work like this in a long time. She had steadied herself with training and only the occasional mission that she had forgotten what it was like. She could have very well blamed Neji for this, but she knew that they had to move fast and keep alert constantly. It couldn't be helped. That's why this is an S-class mission.

She sat in the bath for almost an hour and cleaned herself and washed her hair then decided to get out before she fell asleep in there. That would not be good because if someone attacked she would be bare to the world. That would surely get her in hot water with Neji.

**"It's not like you wouldn't want to be in hot water with Neji."**

_"Not like that. I don't want to be in trouble with him!"_

**"Uh-huh."**

_"Not another word."_

**"Whatever."**

_"..."_

She got out of the bathtub and got a towel and wrapped it around her. She put her ear to the door to see if she could hear anything out in the other room, nothing. So she unlocked the door and pulled it open a crack. She took a peek around the room and didn't see anything and Neji didn't say anything to her so she opened the door and stepped out. Then she saw him. Fast asleep on his bed. "Hm. He must have been awfully tired to have just passed out like that," she thought while heading over to her bed. She grabbed her pack and put on a pair of clean clothes to sleep in.

She turned in a full circle to look around the room one last time before crawling out of the bed and turning off the light that had been on when they arrived in the room. She lay down under the covers, which were very soft surprisingly, and drifted off to unconciousness.

A few hours after that Sakura stirred, got up out of bed, and went into the bathroom to stop at the mirror, turn around, and walk back out. She walked around the room for a moment peeking in the two closets that were there and trying to open the room door, but Neji locked it right after he came in.

After she was satisfied that she couldn't open it she turned around and walked back to the bed on the far left and got in it. She crawled underneath the covers and Neji subconciously wrapped his arms around her. He didn't wake up when she touched the bed, he just lay there. Sometime during the night he climbed underneath the covers.

She snuggled as close to him as she could get and put her head right underneath his chin. He tightened his grip around her and she instantly fell still.

It was early morning, the Hyuuga always wakes up early in the morning. He figured it must be around seven in the morning. No matter how tired he is he always wakes at that time. It was a regular morning, that is until he looked down.

The look on his face was the most animated his face had ever been. It was a mixture of looks of pure unadulterated shock, confusion, and disbelief. When his body finally caught up to his brain he instantly scrambled backwards, accidentally waking her and making her jump in panic thinking they were being attacked. Which in turn caused her to fall off of the bed, him as well.

They both landed with huge thuds on opposite sides of the bed. Both of them sat up pretty quickly and peeked over the side of the bed at each other.

"Hyuuga! Why the hell are you in my bed?!" she yelled at him.

"Where the hell have you been? You're in _my_ bed. I should be asking _you_ that question!" He yelled back.

"What are you talking about?! I distinctly remember-" Sakura went to say as she stood up and turned around to see her bed to the far right.

"Oh. Um. Oops," she said as she turned around and tilted her head giving him a quirky smile.

"Ah, yeah. It's alright, but seriously," he said as he got up. Turning so his back was to her so she couldn't see his normally beautiful pale skin red as a tomato. He just couldn't stop his heart from racing. He thought he was going to have a heart attack and die at an early age. He got some really bad bodily reactions when he saw her laying beside him in his arms with absolutely no space between them. (If you know what I mean) :D hee hee hee.

"Yeah, well, I'm going to go take a shower," he said as he grabbed some clean clothes out of his pack. "Yeah a cold shower. Then a hot one," He thought as he walked towards the bathroom door. Keeping his back facing her due to the "problem" with his lower body.

"Oh Neji. I forgot to tell you that sometimes I sleep walk. It's been that way since my parents died," She hesitatingly stated. She wasn't sure how he'd react to this type of news. She was going to tell him sooner, but at first she just didn't want to talk to his pompous ass. Then she got just a little too distracted.

"Oh. Well that explains a lot," Was all he said when he entered the bathroom and shut the door. "Now time for that cold shower," he mumbled almost so quiet he almost didn't even hear himself.

* * *

**I hope you liked it. If you did please review. The more comments I get the faster I can get the chapters written. If I get a wild hair to give another special request thingy for one of the later chapters it will be on the top or bottom. :) If anyone has any ideas for an Itasaku, Shikasaku, Deisaku, or Sasosaku and would like for me to attempt to write one then e-mail them to me or list it with your reviews. Those are the only ones I am willing to take requests for right now. There are tons of others. Besides I like alternate pairings. My e-mail address is on my silvercrimsonshadow page. **

**OTHER THANKS TOO--------:D**

**PissedxOffxPrincessx18-**

**For suggesting sleepwalking-------very good idea. I would never have come up with that on my own:D **

**Kate-**

**I'm glad I could help you see that Neji and Sakura can go together and look pretty well-please keep reading! I am glad you liked it. :D**

**arubadiamond-**

**I thank you for suggesting more awkward positions-I hope they appeal to your liking. I think they were more awkward. Pretty sure. There were more of them in this chapter as well. :D**

**cutiepug66-**

**I'm glad you liked it. I was so afraid that no one would:D**

**Rose Matsunaga-**

**Thank you for reviewing-I'll try to update as soon as possible:D**

**dinogirl694-**

**Thank you for reviewing-I'm glad you think it's schweet:D**

**low-ponytail-**

**Thankx for reviewing-I hope you review again. I really appreciate all the reviews from everyone:D**

**P.S.----I am thinking about putting a lemon scene in. Please tell me what you think. I promise it won't ruin the story! I don't want to lose reviewers for it being there! I will put warnings at the beginning and at the end!**


	7. Harsh Reality

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO-or any other cool manga/anime.:(

**THERE IS LEMON IN THIS CHAPTER! I PUT A SIGN WHERE IT STARTS AND ENDS!**

**Chapter Seven**

**Harsh Reality**

As Neji was standing in the bathroom with just a towel around his lower half he was thinking about their journey so far. This mission wasn't…normal. I mean he knew it was a normal kind of an S-class mission, but not a normal normal S-class mission. This mission had a well thought out plan and everything, but it was just…this mission, it was getting a bit…personal. He had never had a mission that involved getting personal with his partner or any team member he had ever had before. A mission is supposed to be done professionally. Not…clumsily…well, the way this mission was going. It just isn't normal. All of the…awkward occurrences…were starting to get to him. He just had to take a **_cold _**shower. That shouldn't be happening. It hasn't ever happened on any other missions he's ever had in his life, starting from the very beginning when he was a Genin (Sp?).

"Hm. This is getting to be a problem. I can't have **_this _**kind of a problem **_now_**. This is bad. If it wasn't dangerous I'd say we could get different rooms next time, but if one of us gets attacked the other might not know it. That would be even worse than her sleep walking" thought Neji.

He was staring into the mirror thinking so deeply that he didn't hear the knock on the door. So when Sakura opened the door he didn't even realize that she did it.

Sakura decided that since she took a shower last night that she wouldn't need a shower in the morning, but then again, it could be a while before they find another village that is even relatively safe to stop in to get another shower.

Sakura waited in **_her _**bed for a while before she got up and got some fresh clothes out of her pack. She began to think about all that has happened to them already. How odd it was too. She had never been in that situation she was in yesterday in that alley with him with anyone else. I mean sure. She's had plenty of offers from other guys, but none of them had ever gotten her curiosity. This, **_this _**was completely new. She had never been in a more awkward position with anyone else.

**"Hmph. More like positions if you ask me."**

_"Oh come on. I don't really want to argue with you right now. It's WAY too early."_

**"Well, personally I don't care how early it is. You just need to face it and get over it. YOU LIKE HIM."**

_"Girl what have you been smoking?! I don't know what you're talking about. I DO NOT like him okay."_

**"Yeah, yeah. That's what everyone says at first. I bet he likes you too."**

"_He does not now quit it. It's not like that between me and Neji."_

**"Cha. Not yet."**

_"Shut it."_

**"It will be."**

_"…"_

She got finished getting her clothes and went to knock on the door. After she knocked she waited, and waited. Since no one answered she supposed that he was finished dressing and it was okay if she came in. That could be the only reason for him to not answer her, right?

"Nah, I'm just being paranoid. If anyone would've attacked Neji in the shower then everybody would know it by now. Especially if he used his Kaiten spin (Japanese words if someone could tell me please?). That would have completely given away his attack. So since he didn't say anything I can just go in right? Yes. I can. I will. Just got to turn the doorknob" Sakura stood there with her hand on the doorknob arguing with herself for a little bit before she decided that she would just go in since he didn't say anything about not going in because he wasn't fully clothed.

So, she turned the doorknob, opened the door, and walked in to see Neji just standing there, in **_nothing _**but a towel, staring at himself in the mirror. Well, he seemed to be in deep thought. Not to mention he didn't even notice that she just walked in on him in a towel. She could feel herself turn a deep, deep shade of red, just standing there looking at him.

"He is **_gorgeous_**" thought Sakura after studying him for a second. His body was completely perfect. He had a few scars, but nothing even remotely close to counting as blemish on his beautiful pale white skin. He is lean and muscular, but not over muscular like some men," Sakura just stood there staring at him and practically drooling over his perfect body, not noticing his eyes move to her.

Neji was just standing there in deep thought looking into the mirror when he finally noticed her standing there. For some reason he didn't want to spook her so he just moved his eyes enough to look at her. He could tell some things about what she's thinking from her facial expressions. He didn't have to look at her to know that she was looking at him, studying his body, but when he looked at her and saw the deep thoughtful expression on her face as she stared at him, it just made him want to let her do it longer.

"Heh. She hasn't even noticed that I'm watching her, yet," thought Neji putting a little smirk across his face. "So Sakura, do you like what you see?" Neji asked her, getting a little of a cocky tone in his voice.

"Huh?" Sakura said out loud answering him still in a daze until she realized what he just asked her. She turned even redder than she was before and turned to go out of the bathroom door when all of a sudden it closed and Neji was standing there in front of her, leaning against the bathroom door, looking at her with a strange look in his eyes. She had never seen him look at anyone like that before. Of course she never really spent much time in his presence, but still, it was odd.

"I…don't know why I'm doing this. I've never had this weird feeling in my stomach before. I don't know what to do here, other than this. I guess I might have to actually admit to liking her…a little bit. Just a little bit. I can't seem to control what my body wants to do at the moment. Although, I can't deny that I don't want to do…whatever my body is insinuating at the moment, it's almost like my body is betraying me, but the look she was giving me as she was checking out my body was just too much for me to handle I guess" Neji was thinking a million miles an hour right now. He was extremely nervous. He realized all to well what he just insinuated when he closed that bathroom door before she could go out.

"Oh. My. God. What is Neji doing?! It's like he wants to keep me…in…here…like…this…oh no! What do I do?!" Sakura thought frantically taking a few steps backwards towards the other side of the bathroom, trying to make some distance between her and the undeniably beautiful Hyuuga.

Neji slid his had down and locked the door from the inside so that no one could get inside, and most importantly, no one could get out. It wasn't that he was going to force her or anything, but he did want her to at least give it a chance, not run away when she gets too scared. After he locked the door with a click he took a few steps forward.

**LEMON WARNING**

Sakura stepped back until her back was against the opposite wall. She didn't know what to do in this situation. She had never been in this situation before. He walked up to her until their toes were touching. There was barely any space between them at all. He put one of his hands on either side of her head making a cage so she wouldn't be able to run away from him. He didn't want to scare her too badly or hurt her by doing something she didn't want to do, but dang. Even the great Hyuuga Neji has male hormones, and that look that damned look is all to blame for getting him this…aroused.

She made the mistake of looking up into his eyes, those eyes. They held a kind of tenderness in them that she'd never seen before, well from him at least. He didn't make a move to do anything to her. He just stood there for a few minutes letting her look into his eyes. Mainly to see if she would want to immediately bolt, but when she didn't make a move to run he slowly leaned down and closed the distance between their lips.

She could feel his breath on her lips as he paused for a second before completing the kiss, paused long enough to whisper her name, before he put his lips against hers. He didn't try anything slick or anything. After a few seconds he pulled away, only about an inch though, he just looked at her to see if she showed any sign of wanting him to stop. Since there wasn't he closed the distance between their lips once more, but this time she reciprocated.

He moved his hands down to cup her cheek in his left hand with his right on the small of her back. As they were kissing he licked her bottom lip asking for entrance, which she hesitatingly gave him. He slipped his tongue inside her mouth and started to explore her cavern. After a few seconds she started a dominance war with her tongue, which he gladly reciprocated in. They broke apart to catch their breath and just looked at each other again; both captivated by the others eyes.

They started kissing again almost immediately, but this time it was heavier and more passionate. He pulled her against him with the hand that was on the small of her back and let the other hand wander down to her waist where the other hand now resides.

She let one of her hands wander up his back and into his hair, which he already had up in his usual low ponytail. She pulled that hair tie out of his hair and threw it towards the counter. Her other hand grabbed the back of his neck while the one that took out his hair tie was now playing with his hair, massaging his scalp.

Neji's hands gradually felt down her butt to the top of her thighs where he let them sit for a few seconds before suddenly picking her up still kissing her deeply. She yelped when he picked her up, mainly because she wasn't expecting it, but she wrapped her legs around his waist in no time. He carried her over to the door and held her up with one hand while he twisted the doorknob to unlock and open the door.

Amazingly, his towel was still on as he carried her over to his bed and laid her down on the bed. He quit kissing her long enough to get some much needed air and started kissing her again. He could feel his arousal heighten as he crawled on top of her perfectly shaped body. Plus the moans she was making as he kissed her were adding to that.

He was on top of her putting the majority of his weight on his left arm so that he wouldn't hurt her. His other hand slid down the side of her face where it had gone up to when he laid her down to slid ever so slowly down her side. He started kissing along her jaw line going down to her neck. As his hand started going up her shirt he bit her, and got a moan for his ministrations.

He slid his hand around to her back to lift her up as he removed her shirt from her body. He laid her back down and squeezed her right breast slightly, earning a moan for his efforts. He instantly started biting and sucking on her neck, to which she responded well to. Pausing his ministrations on her breast just long enough to unsnap her bra and remove it, he kissed her passionately again.

She knew what was happening, though she didn't want it to stop. He was going slowly, she knew, but it still felt good, she got a few more thoughts in about how good this felt, and then completely lost all train of thought as he licked her nipple. She arched into him at the pang of fire that ran through her body at that moment. She ran her hands through his hair and pulled it a little as he bit and sucked on her right nipple. While his mouth was entertaining the right nipple his, now, left arm was massaging the other breast so as not to leave it out.

Sakura moaned and pulled his head towards her breast, as she arched into his mouth from the sweet sensations he was giving her. Neji switched breasts as he heard her making small noises of pleasure. He loved hearing those noises coming out of her mouth, especially with him being the one causing her to make them.

He started making his way down her stomach licking, kissing, sucking, and nipping as he massaged her breasts with his hands. He got to her naval and started licking circles around it with his tongue. Steadily he slid his hands down her sides, feeling her ribs and watching her reactions, until his hands stopped at her pants line.

Quickly he went back up to kiss her mouth passionately while his hands untied the elastic string that held her pants up. It didn't even register with her that he was removing her pants until they were already off. Now the only thing on her body was her panties.

Still kissing her he slid his fingers lightly up her inner thigh, until he reached her womanhood. He slid his hand gently over the fabric and found that she was very wet. This made him pull back from his kisses and smirk at her. When she felt the hand over her womanhood she got a little nervous, but all that was erased as soon as he removed the annoying article of clothing, she then became super nervous.

He could tell she was nervous, he could see it in her eyes, but he couldn't see anything telling him to stop. He started kissing her lips again, and then steadily moved down her body, neck, breasts, and stomach, until he got to her…area. He slowly moved his knees in between her legs to spread them out more. Then, looking up at her to see if there was any doubt in her eyes he licked her clit, which made her body instantly arch up and her grab his head.

He licked her clit a little before his tongue made it in between her folds. His tongue quickly moved in and out, mimicking what he was going to do to her in a little while. She moaned and squirmed, so bad that he had to hold down her hips so she couldn't move them.

"Ahh…Ohhh…Neji!" she moaned in between ragged breaths. She could feel something beginning to form in her stomach; his tongue was sending something akin to white hot fire running through her entire being. His tongue stopped its ministrations, much to her dismay. When she felt one of his fingers enter her folds to continue what he started.

He leaned up to kiss her as his finger went in and out quickly, soon adding a second, slowing down every now and then to make a "v" shape in order to stretch her. Making sure she's ready for the invasion soon to come.

Finally, she came, yelling into his kiss. He went back down and licked it off of her womanhood, then lifted up so he could see her suck it off of his fingers. She looked at him "Neji…please" she said through breaths, now she was sure that she wanted him, if he could do that with just his fingers, she could just imagine what he could do with something else.

She reached down and took off the towel separating him from her while he removed the offending piece of pink clothing keeping him from her. She lay back as he slid himself between her legs. She could feel his hard member brush against her inner thigh as he positioned himself at her entrance.

"This is going to hurt some." He warned her as she slid her arms up onto his shoulders. She nodded, and he slid himself into her with one quick thrust of his hips. His mouth instantly came crashing down on hers to stifle her scream as he broke through her barrier.

"Do you want me to stop?" he asked her quietly waiting for her to calm down. Surprisingly there were no tears in her eyes as he figured there would be. "No…keep going…I'm fine" she replied softly.

He started moving in and out, slowly at first, then steadily getting faster. Soon she started reciprocating in his movements, meeting him halfway. The pleasure was becoming intense for both of them as it started getting harder to control themselves. He reached a hand down between them and started pressing her little bundle of nerves as he shifts his position to get that certain spot, continually getting harder and deeper. Soon the world came crashing down and lights flashed behind her eyes.

He kissed her to stifle his and hers screams of passion. With his body exhausted he let himself collapse on her without withdrawing himself from her sheath.

"Neji…that…was…wonderful" Sakura said between breaths as she was trying to get her body back under control from such exhausting activities.

"Yeah" Neji said quietly, since that was about all he could say for the moment. "Now I have to take another shower, and we have to get ready to go and continue our mission."

"Right. You go ahead and take that shower, I'll wait here until it's my turn" she calmly stated.

* * *

Neji got off of her and stood up. "Oh no. Don't think you're getting off that easy. We don't have time for two showers." Right after that he reached down and picked her up off of the bed, threw her over his shoulder, and carried her to the shower, where he put her down so that they could take a shower.

After their shower they got dressed and headed out of the hotel, towards the exit the way they need to go to catch the man with the stolen scroll. Luckily there still was no sign of any Stone shinobi.

As they were walking towards their destination she was looking at him as she was walking behind him, thinking deeply. He noticed this when he looked over his shoulder at her and kind of smirked at the look on her face. He could tell that she thought that was just a "one time thing." So, he reached back and grabbed her hand in his, effectively silencing every one of her thoughts.

"Neji" was all Sakura could say when he grabbed her hand in his and started walking faster.

"Hn" Neji asked as he pulled her along quickly so they could get there a little faster and still have time to think.

"Nevermind" she replied as she thought better of asking him what they were to each other now. It was best right now if they both just left it alone and delt with it later. They couldn't put each other in danger during a mission like this. Showing their feelings for each other could very well do that. It would surely get in the way of the mission if she asked him about it now.

He didn't know what came over him. He just wanted to be with her. More than friends, but now they had more important things to worry about. Like their mission, and just how they were going to get the scroll back from that vile man. They were getting closer day by day to their intersection point and they still had no play on how to approach him and get it back. He could see the next town from where they were standing, and he knew that the man and his entourage would be there sometime tomorrow. The only reason they were going to beat him is because they took the short way. There was no telling what tomorrow held in store for them…

* * *

So how was that. Sorry it too so long to get finished. I really had a two week dissertation project I had to do, then I got stumped a few times on the lemon…I give much praise to those who have ever attempted to write a lemon and post it…it's hard, well for me. Once again sorry. I wanted it to be good. Well as good as a first time gets. I would REALLY appreciate reviews from this one. I REALLY need to know if you liked it. No it's not some ego thing. It's more of a relief factor. Lol. I'm a paranoid person. PLEASE review. I REALLY need to know. i'm nervous… thanx! 


	8. Getting Down To Business

**Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years. I know some people have been waiting for this so I won't keep you waiting! Here we go:D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto-or anything else. :( (I keep forgetting this stupid thing!) Don't sue me.**

**Chapter 8**

**Getting Down to Business**

* * *

The rocky hills that they were navigating were quickly turning into rocky cliffs and mountains. Neji was still in the front, leading them to where they needed to go to intercept this scroll. Neither of them knew what was inside it, but they didn't need to know to get it back, so that was unimportant. Unfortunately neither of them has thought of a way to get the scroll back and get out of Stone without being caught red handed with a scroll that Stone wants. Thankfully, the shinobi who stole it passed it to a lord right outside of the border of Stone and Fire, which gives them a lot more time to come up with a plan of action.

It was probably about six thirty in the afternoon and the sky had been clouding up for a while now. The valley like place they were walking through had many jagged rocks sticking out of the ground and sides everywhere. The fog had rolled in about an hour ago and consequently was now very thick. Sakura could hardly see through it, but they had Neji's keen eyesight to help them, even without the Byakugan active his eyes can still see things others cannot. Plus they both will be able to sense any foreign shinobi headed their way, especially with their chakra levels so low right now.

Neither of them had talked much since they left the last village. Both of them knew they had a mission to complete, and they had to do whatever it took to get in there, get the scroll, and get back out again. It wasn't going to be easy, but S-class missions aren't supposed to be easy.

As they were almost at the next village's gates, which are located on a hilltop which you had to descend right after you walked into the gates to get into the town, they both were elevated high enough that they could see the road and entrance that they needed to exit through to get on track to wait in cover for their new friend to pass by unsuspectingly, just like Shikamaru said he would, so they could ambush the deceiving Stone lord and get the scroll back. That was the initial plan, but when Neji and Sakura saw the mode of transportation bearing the lords signature flags on it just coming into town, they couldn't resist just snooping around a bit, in hopes of being able to carry out the mission a little closer to home, maybe something he did here would help them out a little bit.

So, they decided that they would get down into the main part of the town, buy some instant ramen or something like that for food, get a hotel room, and stay close to this lord. Hopefully he'll leave himself vulnerable while in town and they can get the scroll from him then. That way they don't have to long to run back to the Fire country. The farther they have to run back to Fire, the harder and less likely that they'll get back alive. With all of this in mind they got through the gate, as expected, without their head protectors on, to make sure no one recognized them as shinobi. They couldn't risk genjutsu, because that would mean letting up on hiding their chakra signatures.

They finally found their way to the main street, with all of the shops, restaurants, hotels, and many other kinds of places. Sakura saw all kinds of different foods that she'd never seen before, but of course they are in a different country that isn't on very good terms with her own. This is probably going to make relations between Stone and Leaf all the more pissed off at each other. Hopefully nothing too serious happens, it wouldn't do to have a war start raging right now, especially now that all of the shinobi villages are in times of peace. Even Sand has been prosperous of late. She'll have to see if she can convince Tsunade to let herself and at least Naruto go to see Gaara, the Kazekage.

"Neji, shouldn't we just stop somewhere to get some food and then go ahead and get a hotel room, preferably where the target is staying?" she questioned the Hyuuga.

"Yes, let's just find someplace that sells instant ramen, and then find out **discreetly**, where the target is staying while he's here" he replied calmly. He had applied his sunglasses again before the guards at the gate noticed his eyes; a person with eyes such as his would undoubtedly stick out here, while in Konoha it's common, here it would cause unwanted suspicion.

"Okay. How about you go and find the instant ramen, and I'll go and try to find out which hotel the target is staying at. Now, don't argue with me. A woman would cause a lot less suspicion than a man would. They would expect a man to follow them from Fire, but not a woman," she quickly stated before Neji could get a word in edgewise. Mainly because she knew that if he did get a word in before she got finished he would definitely not agree with her statement.

Neji was about to open his mouth to say something but just ended up shutting it again due to the fact that he supposed that he didn't have any say in this matter. Of course, everything she said was true, he just felt a little uneasy about her going off by herself here. It's not all that safe for them to be separated, but for this newly developed purpose they will have to be separated, if only for a little while. "Fine, but stay on your guard, I don't want any unnecessary movements. We don't want them to know that we are from Konoha, or that we are ninja," he said sighing inwardly, knowing that it was useless to say no to her at this point.

"Okay! Well I'm going to go and look for him then. I'll start at the richest hotels first. Meet me at the entrance to that café so I can tell you which hotel he's staying at," she said confidently as she strode away and became nothing more than another face in the crowd.

Neji sighed and went to look for a place that sells instant ramen so they would have food to eat while they were here spying. He hoped it wouldn't take long for her to find this man so that they could get into his hotel as soon as possible. He was starting to worry that maybe the hotel would get full before they could get in. He hoped not. That would lead to severe complications in this newly acquired reconnaissance mission.

Sakura was walking down the street looking for the lord's private transport, hoping that they had it out in front of the hotel, or at least somewhere visible. That would be the easiest way to find him. As she was walking down the street the many shops got her attention. This town obviously thrived on the fact that no town, she presumed, for miles had shops quite like these, so tourists from other places and regular citizens from this country must come here to shop. She had left the market, where merchants had set up their goods and where most of the restaurants are located, and now she was entering where most of the clothing shops and other types of shops like that are located. She was making sure to look into the windows of those shops as she walked by. Most of them sold clothing, but some sold flowers, accessories, weapons, and there were quite a few department stores.

For once Sakura's look seemed to look up. Not too far into this district she spotted the target's mode of transportation. Luckily they were moving it into the place reserved to put the carriages of the richer people that could afford them, kind of like a parking lot, except there are no cars, just carriages. Sakura thanked Kami on her way back to Neji to tell him that she found out where the lord is staying.

Neji was sitting at a table outside of the café they decided they would meet at, drinking some water and waiting patiently for her to return. Even with his sunglasses he still got the attention of the random women and whores that were lurking on the street this close to nightfall. He assumed from the amount of whores that were there that there must be a brothel in this town somewhere, and these must have been the most trusted of them. Unfortunately he couldn't make a scene here, or he probably would have scared them off by now. So he was just going to have to put up with it until Sakura got back. "Kami I hope she hurries," he thought giving the ogling females wary glances that they couldn't see from behind his sunglasses.

Sakura could finally see Neji where he was sitting at the table in front of the café, and she didn't like what she saw. There, all around him were prostitutes and whores of all kinds. He wasn't responding to any of them, but still, it pissed her off just to see it. So she did the only thing that came to mind right then.

She primped a teeny weensy bit and sauntered right over there, between the giggling girls, pushing and shoving when needed, and straddled his legs, pretty close to his knees and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Hey there," she said as she kissed him, it started out just a kiss, but he wrapped his arms around her back, making her slide up his legs to lean against his chest while he devoured her mouth right there in front of everybody. Needless to say all of the commotion died away…fast.

"Thank you Sakura," was all Neji could spit out after that heated battle for dominance. He was blushing profusely. Sure he'd made out with people before, then there was what happened back in the last village, but he'd never done anything like that out in public before. That was a first.

After that Sakura just smiled at him and giggled at him. "Well, at least it had its desired effect," she stated simply, while getting up off of his lap. "Come on, I found out where they're staying.

Neji simply nodded him head in acknowledgement as he grabbed their food and both of them headed towards the hotel the lord is staying at. This time Sakura was leading him, it was kind of weird, this whole mission he had been leading her around, now she was leading him. He wanted to talk to her about something, but ever since they had sex he wasn't able to actually talk to her about anything, it was hard to believe that he was shy, more likely embarrassed, but of course he would never under any circumstances admit that to anyone.

He decided shortly after they had started making their way towards the hotel that he should stay pretty close to Sakura, especially if any more of those women show up again. Another thing he would never admit to anyone else was that if she wasn't there he probably never would have gotten away from all of those whores and single drooling, giggling lovesick girls. How he hates women like that. Fortunately for him there is a girl, no women, right in front of him that could help him out of the escapades those lovesick, brainless idiots put him through constantly. Maybe if, no when, they get out of this she would think about being with him. "Hmm, it would be worth the trouble. She is the only women I've had actual feelings for. I know that I like her as more than a friend, but the question is, does she like me," Neji thought while watching how her body moved with every step she took.

"Hmmm," Neji thought, "To any normal person what she did back there would have insinuated that she liked him, but considering what they are here for she couldn't let those women rip me to pieces by fighting over me, or we wouldn't have been able to finish the mission. So that doesn't necessarily mean that she likes me in the same way. It most likely had to do with the mission. Damn mission. How am I supposed to interpret her feelings when we're on a mission?" Neji was knocked out of his thoughts however, when he bumped into something in front of him.

"Oof. Geez Neji you should pay attention more," said Sakura after Neji nearly knocked her over due to lack of concentration, "I think that it would be a good idea if we go in there and get a room under an alias. Unfortunately, I am the Hokage's apprentice, so they might know my name. If they catch us now we'll never get the scroll back."

"Hm. That's a good idea. We should really go under an alias. That way they won't get suspicious," Neji agreed.

"Good. Now we also need to get some different clothes because the hotel that he is staying at is a very luxurious hotel, and I don't suspect they will let just anyone in. So we really do need to look the part. We'll also have to make up a reason for us passing through here, which I already have thought about. I'll be playing the part of a lovely geisha passing through this town on our way to the Hidden Village of Stone. You can play the part of my manager coming along with me to make sure that no harm befalls me on the trip there and back. So you will also have to buy a different pair of clothes. I know that this isn't the best plan that we could have possibly come up with, but it's simple and it works," replied Sakura quickly before Neji could say anything about coming up with a plan. On the way towards the meeting place with Neji and on the way back to show him the hotel she came up with this plan.

Neji thought about all that she had said and contemplated the plan thoroughly so as not to miss any details that could have slipped by. "Yes. That sounds like a good plan. It's simple yet effective. It gets us close to the enemy without being in any real danger, and it also gets us close to the scroll. So that plan will work."

She grabbed Neji and pulled him out of the middle of the road and pointed to the hotel, it wasn't very far away. It is a multistory building that is a dark burgundy red on the outside with expensive decorations visible through the bay windows it has on either side of the clear glass entrance doors. They could see some of the expensive wood furnishings inside, such as a beautiful countertop for the front desk and the walls on the inside.

"Okay, we'll meet back here when we're done shopping. Then we'll discuss the aliases. That way we have time to think of appropriate names," Sakura stated as she started walking quickly away towards a kimono store that she saw on the way there.

He didn't even get a chance to reply before she walked off into the hustle and bustle of the street. So he turned and went to look for a store with richer looking kimonos in them. He figured that she'd be smart enough to figure out that she should buy more than one considering that they are going to be in this place for quite some time. Well, however long that man stays here. This plan also considered her safety. It made sure that no man in the hotel would try to have sex with her considering that geisha are merely entertainers of the arts, and they do not do what prostitutes on the streets and whores in brothel houses do. That is the main thing. He walked down the street looking for stores with rich kimonos, all the while thinking about this mission and the pink haired mystery named Sakura.

Meanwhile, Sakura had already found the store that she wanted to buy from. Before she went inside she stopped at a little convenience store and put on some makeup to make her look more beautiful and geisha-like. Unfortunately her clothes didn't help much. Thank goodness she is a really good liar. Otherwise it would be very difficult to carry out this plan of action. She is a good talker too, especially when it comes to getting something she wants. The only thing she's going to have to remember how to do is play the shakuhachi (1).

She finally decided what she was going to get in the clothing store when she remembered that she would need to get multiple beautiful kimonos since they would undoubtedly be there until she got that scroll away from that man. She wasn't letting them go anywhere until she had it. Hopefully this man likes geisha. If he does then it will be a hell of a lot easier for her. Thank goodness geisha normally buy more clothes on the way to their destination. They can't carry all of their clothing. She'll just have to make sure that that man doesn't come into this store to buy her anything, if he likes her. Then there's Neji. Hopefully he'll be able to play this little acting part in our story. If he doesn't play it convincingly then their charade won't work. That would be extremely bad.

Now that she has eight or nine kimonos she decided that she'd walk down the street and back to the meeting place, after she gets dressed into one and the makeup that is. Thank goodness this store is used to many geisha coming through here and knows how to properly tie an obi. The kimono she decided on is a dark blue that starts at the very bottom of the kimono and around the waist gradually fades to black as it gets to the shoulders. It has stars becoming visible from the knees and going up all the way to the shoulders of the kimono, and her obi is a visible night sky with clouds and a beautiful full, silver moon on it. She had already put her hair all the way up into a beautiful bun with many dangly things pocking out from all sides of it. Not all geisha here use wax in their hair like in some other countries, so she was alright with that style.

As she walked down the busy street, thank Kami it was thinning out some now, she got many looks from the men that were walking up and down the road. So she knows that the plan is working, on the normal men at least. Finally, she got to the meeting place that she and Neji set for themselves, and he was already there, in a stunning kimono of tan and dark blue. Despite the fact that it was just plain colors, nothing fancy, it still looked very expensive, and Neji looks very sexy in it, although that isn't what she was supposed to be observing, but she couldn't help it.

He saw her coming out from between the people that were moving out of the way. If it hadn't been for her pink hair, he wouldn't have even recognized her. She looked like a goddess, a celestial maiden from heaven in her beautiful night sky laden kimono. It seems as though they have similar tastes. At least she didn't buy something pink and automatically wear that one, they wouldn't have looked good walking anywhere together, it would have clashed.

"So, I have thought of a name. I've decided on Yori (2). You will have to call me that as well from now on, or he will definitely know something is up," she said knocking him out of his daze.

"I have decided on a name as well. It is Kiyoshi (3). Now that we have decided, I suggest that we get going with this plan. Here give me your bags. It wouldn't look good for you to carry them inside. Perhaps we'll meet him soon," Neji replied in a professional manner akin to being her manager.

So both of them started walking at a leisurely pace towards the beautiful hotel, in a very professional manner, so as not to attract any unwanted attention, they opened the door to the hotel and walked up to the clerks desk and Neji calmly asked for a room. The clerk politely gave them a room and a key and told them if they needed anything to not hesitate to ask, you know the works, and they turned around and went to walk away when Sakura bumped into somebody.

Sakura looked up to begin apologizing and looked into the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen, and also she saw the crest of the carriage carrying the lord on his kimono, indicating that this is the man that she has been searching for.

"I am very sorry my lord. Please forgive my clumsiness," she politely said as she bowed in apology as well.

The man looked at her and smiled a dazzling smile, "That is alright miss, I have to wonder though, may I ask you an important question?"

**

* * *

****Sorry I have to end it here. I felt like making a spazy cliffy lol. Sorry about the long wait. I believe this chapter has more plot than all of my other ones, so I had to make sure that it was perfect before I posted. Well as perfect as can be anyway. Hope you enjoy, and a very big thank you to all of my faithful readers and reviewers! THANK YOU!**

**I thank the reviewer for the info on Neji's justu. You know who you are! **

**And in answer to the request of another reviewer I will try to put a couple more lemon scenes in the story in some of the later chapters!**

**(1) Shukuhachi-is a flute that geisha use to entertain with**

**(2) Yori-means trustworthy**

**(3) Kiyoshi-means the quiet one**

**R&R**

**Have a great year! Hope everyone makes their new years resolution!**

**:D**


	9. Meeting with the Enemy

**SORRY ABOUT THE SLOW UPDATES! EXPLANATION AT THE BOTTOM-WELL IT MAKES SENSE TO ME ANYWAYS! **

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO-DO NOT SUE ME!

**Chapter 9**

**Meeting with the Enemy**

* * *

"Yes. You are free to ask your question," Sakura said calmly, rising from her graceful bow.

"You seem to be staying at this hotel, are you geisha?" he politely questioned. The only women he had ever seen dressed in such elegant attire had been exceedingly rich lord's wives or geisha, and this goddess didn't look like any lords wife.

"I am," Sakura answered with a small smile, all the while making sure to keep eye contact with him. One of her best attributes is her eyes.

"Well then, if you have nothing to do in about an hour, maybe you could entertain me. I will be here for a few days due to some business," he quickly replied, not wanting to lose this beautiful heavenly creature's gaze.

"Hm. I will concur with my manager and see if I may, and if by chance I am not busy, I will attend in whichever room you are in, in a few hours," Sakura said, almost in a whisper. She was watching how different levels of her voice affected this man. I seemed that strength level of the voice affected this man greatly. This was going to be way too easy.

"Very well. I hope you can make it," he replied smiling a dazzling smile. Not as sparkly as the good guy pose, but still pretty good. He had quite a few body guards with him.

All of them had masks of some sort on so they wouldn't be easy to recognize. They would have to be dealt with first; this is going to take a week at least. She wouldn't gain their trust by simply being there. Most rich men know exactly what that meant. He wouldn't let his guard down because he saw a beautiful geisha. S-class criminals are smarter than that. According to the higher-ups in Konoha he is as smart as or smarter than an S-class criminal. Sakura pretty much decided that in order to get that scroll from the person carrying it and the shinobi guarding it he must be an S-class criminal or at least have the mind of one of the two.

It is lucky for her that the man likes geisha, or she would be in some big trouble trying to get near him. She simply bat her eyelashes at him and exchanged a formal goodbye and started walking at a slow elegant pace to the stairs, knowing he was staring at her the entire time.

Before Sakura and the lords' conversation got too in depth, like right when he asked her if he could ask a question, Neji decided to bail and picked up the suitcases and headed towards the stairs, not wanting to hear what they were about to start talking about. He didn't know if he could watch that man hit on Sakura and still control himself. Normally, Neji isn't a jealous man, but there are certain cases, like this one, when he's in another country on a mission, and some pompous ass decides to hit on the girl he secretly likes and the shit hits the fan. It only happened a couple times, right after his team, team Gai, had finished a mission and decided to have a drink at a bar since they were running ahead a bit. Some drunken rouge nin had hit on Tenten at the time he liked her and it took Lee and Gai to stop him from completely ripping the poor guys head clean off. It was pretty bad; they had to leave after that.

When he walked by them he could already see the lust in that man's eyes. It was just downright sickening. Thank Kami geisha don't do that kind of thing. He had met a few geisha, and not one of them would do that kind of thing, so he was sure that geisha weren't supposed to do that. Sakura seemed to know exactly what she was doing though, poor guy, she had him eating right out of the palm of her hand, he observed on his way up the stairs.

He would probably feel sorry for the guy if it wasn't Sakura he was hitting on, and if he wasn't the reason they were all the way out here in Stone trying to get a scroll that probably had everything to do with the lords of the Fire country and nothing to do with the ninja. Unfortunately, the guy was pretty much at the mercy of the fiery pink haired kunoichi. He could hear her shoes on the stairs as she slowly made her way up. If she were to fall, they'd be through. Geisha are elegant, and they do not fall, only a maiko would fall with those shoes, and maikos are not allowed to go anywhere without a full fledged geisha at their side.

The door opened slowly and quietly and Sakura walked inside, making sure to shut the door softly behind her, she turned and said, "Neji, it worked, we have his undivided attention, remember, you can't be around when I go downstairs in an hour to meet him and some of his business friends in one of the many foyers. Apparently this town has geisha pass through a lot, so it's not unusual to see one here."

"Hm," Neji said as he pondered an idea. "Do you think that I should take a look around while you are downstairs entertaining him in the foyer?" He asked quietly, not looking at her, for fear he'd chase the guy down and kill him before they got the scroll.

He was trying really hard to control his wavering temper, thank Kami she was in the bathroom and couldn't see his face right now, while she was in the same room as him he just acted like he was doing something to keep his face away from her. Normally he didn't have trouble controlling his temper, but he was jealous, and he knew it, but it's not like he'd admit that to anyone but himself. That would be too much information for anyone, _especially _Sakura.

"I'm going to meet him down there in about an hour; I am going to arrive fashionably late. That way I can see exactly how much he wants me to be there," she said while checking her makeup in the bathroom mirror, "You won't need to walk down there with me, but if you want to you can. If he asks you anything about my schedule tell him that you cannot reveal such information, in a polite way."

"Fine, fine," he said giving in quickly so that he wouldn't start arguing with her and blow his top. "So how fashionably late are we going to be?"

"Oh fifteen or twenty minutes should do. The way he was looking at me he should be going crazy after five," she quickly stated. She walked gracefully into the room where Neji was and sat down on the bed to rest a minute. "Shall we go over some kind of plan or time schedule?"

"Yes. We probably should. Hopefully we can find some way for me to enter the room every now and then to check up on things," Neji replied while thinking "So I can make sure he keeps his hands to himself."

It had been a little over an hour and Sakura decided to make sure that her kimono is on properly and get ready to start heading down there. The poor thing has probably already gone wacko. It was funny once she thought about it. This would play perfectly into their trap. Unfortunately, she thought she might have to do a little seducing, that was the only way she could think of to get into his room, but if Neji knew that she didn't know if he would let her go on with it or not, so she didn't tell him. They needed to get the scroll by any means necessary. Then get the hell outa dodge. She just wanted to go home and sleep in her own bed and not have to worry about enemy nins lurking about everywhere she went.

"Neji, if you are going to walk me down there, I'm about to leave!" She had to raise her voice just a little so that he'd hear her. She couldn't raise it much, didn't want to disturb the other guests, just loud enough for him to hear in the bathroom, with the door closed. Just thinking about him being in the bathroom made her blush. Thank Kami no one would be able to see it if she blushed due to all of the makeup she has to wear.

Neji didn't answer her, merely opened the bathroom door, turned of the light, and strolled over to where she was waiting for him by the door. He opened the door for her and they both walked out. Since they are in a hotel, they do not have to take off their shoes, so naturally her shoes made a little noise as she glided through the hallway and down the stairs.

Both of them simply walked up to the desk at the entrance to the tea house part of the hotel and asked the lady working where the young lord might be. Neji did all of the questioning, while the lady practically drooled on him from behind the desk. He described the lord perfectly, he however didn't know what his business partners looked like, and none of them had left a note or anything saying that they were expecting someone. So, Neji leaned forward, until he was about six inches away from the lady and in a soft, seductive voice asked, "Which room is he located in?" Those words weren't even romantic, but they did the trick. She nodded dumbly and motioned to follow her down one of the three hallways that led to many rooms from there, and she took them to one on the far right and far back, where she said he was.

They all could hear the men talking on the other side, no women were heard though. So that was good, if there had been other geisha there her little charade might have been noticed. Sure she took quite a few lessons on how geisha act and look, but she had never really practiced it before. It was an alternative class at the ninja academy. Geisha are the most common of all things that kunoichi can dress up to look like in case they go on an information gathering mission, or during an assigned mission they need information. It is not a secret that men are normally weakened by a beautiful women's presence, especially when that woman knows how to use her presence in order to obtain that which she desires.

In this case, Sakura desires that scroll. So, the plan of action is to use as much time as needed to keep him here long enough to get him to let her into his room by any means necessary. No, she did not tell Neji this part of the plan, but if she would have she didn't know if he would have approved or not. He has been acting kind of strange, so she didn't want to set him off or anything. She will have to make sure to be very careful not to get caught. Hopefully if the plan goes as planned, they will be heading back to fire without having to fight their way out.

Hopefully, this plan will be enough, but if they do have to fight, she's sure that they'll make it out just fine. Otherwise, Konoha will be in a bad position. With the urgency Tsunade was speaking of this mission, this scrolls contents could probably start another ninja war between countries, and that just will not happen on Haruno Sakura's watch.

Neji made sure to walk behind Sakura all of the way to the door so that that weird lovesick woman wouldn't get any ideas. Unfortunately, he still had to get out of there without her shoving him into one of the rooms and trying to take advantage of him. From the way she was looking at him, Neji couldn't tell if she wanted to rape him or eat him, so he's going to have to think fast.

Finally, the three of them stood outside of the doors to the young lords' room. Sakura kneeled gracefully and waited for the lusting woman to open the doors. Sakura could see Neji standing behind her, a little to the right, looking like he was going to bolt the other way down the hallway like lightening. He had good reason too, that woman had drool running down her chin and onto her shirt. If she stared at him any harder her eyes might burst.

The woman knocked quickly and said some sort of apology for the disturbance and opened the door. The room was very nice. All of the large appliances in the room were made out of some fine wood that Sakura didn't know the name of, and all of the dishes in the room were made of very fine china. So apparently, these men were loaded.

All of the men just gaped openly at the young geisha that kneeled at the door. The young lord that invited her to this party was stunned there for a minute, then gestured for her to join them politely.

Sakura got up from her kneeling position and elegantly walked across the room to join them at their table. One of the younger men got up quickly and got her a pillow (I think that's what they sit on?) for her to sit on so she wouldn't have to sit on the ground. She gingerly took her seat and thanked the man, then Neji walked in and handed her her samisen and shakuhachi. She figured that would impress these men since most geisha can only play one instrument or the other. She thought right. All of them men were openly expressing their approval of this marvelous geisha by the expressions on their faces.

The young lord had already told them that he asked the best looking geisha he'd ever seen to come and join them that night. It seems she was right about arriving fashionably late, because he could tell that their target had been impatiently waiting for her by his chakra patterns. He didn't need to use his chakra to read others chakra at the vicinity that he was in. He was close enough. Personally, Neji thought they were to close to Sakura, but Sakura had already put her foot down about him not staying and that was that.

He was careful to not stay lingering with his eyes on the men in the room for very long, just to get a quick look. In case one of those men ended up sneaking off with the scroll before they could get their hands on it, but he really doubts that. He caught some of the looks that the other lords were giving the beautiful _Yori _as he was walking out of the door.

Unfortunately for him, he had forgotten about the lovesick dog that was waiting right outside just for him to come out so she could get some time alone with him. Neji closed the door quietly and turned around to find that weird woman waiting there leaning against the wall for him. Needless to say, he got out of there _fast_.

Sakura could feel all of their eyes on her as she sat down. She knew that Neji was moving slowly in order to obtain what little information that he could about the room. Since his sight is better than hers, she didn't mind him moving a little slow just in case he was looking around for somewhere that they might hide the scroll.

"My lord, I don't believe I ever got your name," Sakura said politely and just a little slowly so that they would all hear her. One of the best ways to get what you what from a man is to make him jealous of others, it's especially easy if your target happens to be a jealous lover. "I do believe that since I did have the time to come here today you should all do me the honor of telling me your names, and here, I will go first, just to start out the introductions. My name is Yori."

"Hm. I suppose that you speak the truth," said the young lord with the scroll they're after. "I am Lord Inoue Kisuke, but you may call me Kisuke-sama."

All of the other men made their introductions. Sakura didn't really care to remember their names, since she was only here for one reason only, the scroll.

The night shifted on pretty slowly for Sakura, who just wished that it would hurry up, since nothing was being said about the scroll. Although, she definitely has them eating out of the palm of her hand, like a starving bunch of dogs. Sure they are pretty nice, when they're not being all perverted and touchy. It seems that about half of them are older lords, and the other half seem to be younger lords with less experience. She did remember overhearing something one of the older lords said to one of the younger ones when he thought that she couldn't hear him, something about women being trouble to most men. She wanted to laugh, but she knew she couldn't, otherwise it might cause suspicion. A normal woman couldn't hear that far away, but a kunoichi could, so nothing could be said.

The night wore on and many drinks were served. Fortunately, one of the young lords, the youngest she thinks, said something about a scroll that they need to take care of, she couldn't really say anything or do anything for that matter, but at least now she can tell Neji that this man has it here, and it's not the Earth countries doing, but just a few power hungry lords.

**"AHHHHHH. HEY! The next time one of these lowlife lords tries to slide his hand up your leg you should punch him! CHA!"**

_"I can't, you know that. This is for the mission, so I'm just going to have to keep calmly moving them away. I am starting to wonder though, what a geisha does here, or if it's just these spoiled lords that are so used to getting everything that they want."_

**"I don't care what it is! I just know that we need them to STOP!"**

_"Don't worry, I think that this little party will be over soon. Plus, at least now we know that they haven't discussed the scroll yet, so it hasn't been passed on. That's good right?"_

**"Yeah, yeah that's good, but can we please hurry before I take over and beat all of them to a pulp?"**

_"Of course. Hey! At least we're making money for all of these hours right!"_

**"YES! SHOPPING!"**

_"Eh. Probably mission expenses."_

**"Aw man. Oh well, we still have Neji-kun!"**

_"SHUT UP! I don't want to talk about that right now!"_

**"BUT…"**

_"NO!"_

**"Fine."**

_"Fine."_

"Well my lords, I am sorry for this inconvenience, but I must be heading back to my room," Sakura said, making it sound like she didn't want to go.

"As you wish Yori-chan. I will accompany you to make sure that no harm comes to you while you're on your way," responded Kisuke.

Sakura just nodded. Well, he was the only one tonight that didn't try to feel her up, so she figured she'd be safe with him.

Sakura had already gotten up, but as she turned around she something that Kisuke had on him caught her eye. It was the scroll, he has it tucked into the belt of his kimono. It even has the fire country's symbol on it.

She quickly looked away from the scroll and to his face, he nodded, and both of them walked to the door, where they got their shoes on, opened the door, and left. It was a silent walk back through the hallway and out of the tea house.

They were walking through the first floor corridor leading them to the stairs to take them up to her floor when all of a sudden someone grabbed her and slammed her up against the wall, _hard. _Before she could scream or do anything the person already had his mouth upon hers, bruising her lips with a crushing force. She could taste the blood in her mouth from him biting her bottom lip in an attempt to get her to open her mouth, which naturally, she did when he bit her lip.

She had had her eyes closed until she felt the offender slide his tongue into her mouth, then she opened them to see none other than…

**

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**

**SORRY EVERYONE! I KNOW CLIFFY FROM HELL! DON'T WORRY I'LL SEND IT BACK AS SOON AS I CAN! **

**Also I am sorry about the slow updates. I'm not going to give you any bull about me being too busy, but note that now I am in my last semester of high school and I am pretty busy, but it also has to do with my writing style. I don't write these chappies ahead of time. I write them as my brain comes up with them. Which can sometimes take a while. Which you have already seen. I have also read…somewhere… that cliffies tend to make people want to read more of your story, and I want to keep my readers! I'm not gonna beg ya for reviews, but I am gonna tell ya that I am very self-conscious about my writing. So for those of you that have reviewed from chapter six forward here are the thanx:D**

**CHAPTER SIX!**

_**Cutiepug66-Thank you for reviewing, and yes I have been told about my evilness lol. :D**_

_**arubadiamond-I'm glad that you liked it! Thanx for reviewing! I'll try to update faster! I now know where my story is headed lol:D**_

_**PissedxOffxPrincessx18- Thanky you for your review. Yes I did put in the sleepwalking like I said I would! THANKX FOR THE GLOMPING LOL! I'm very glad you liked it:D**_

_**CHAPTER SEVEN**_

**_OtakuAnime131-I'm very glad that you like it so much to read it at 3 in the morning! I hope you continued to like it up to this point! At first I thought no one would like it:D_**

_**Pixel-the-evil-fairy-Thanx for the review, and I also love Neji/Sakura fics! I'll try to update faster:D**_

**_PissedxOffxPrincessx18-THANK YOU SO MUCH! I really needed to know a few of Neji's jutsu. Thank you for letting me know that I did indeed spell Genin correctly, and thankx for the constructive criticism on the lemon! I do tend to do that with the detail that I use! My bad:D I'll try better next time! _**

_**CraZy-AneH-GiRL-Thankx for the review! I'm happy that you're laughing:D**_

_**Anime Angeline-Thankx for the review! I will definitely try to keep up the good work, hope I'm doing that now! I'm glad to be able to make someone laugh:D**_

_**Gaarasminestayaway-Thankx for the review, and I will try to update faster:D**_

_**Scarlet Assassin-Thanx for the review! I'm glad that you love it enough to go on favorites list! That means I'm doing a good job! Phew-blows out cloud- :D**_

**_blackblossom334-Thnx for the review! I'm glad that you like it! And as for your request----------I think I can do something about that! A couple more couldn't hurt! Your wish will be granted good reviewer:D_**

_**narutogrl93-Thans for all of the reviews lol! I'll have you know that I was online writing a chappie at the time you were reviewing. I swear you should have seen the look on my face when you started reviewing every few seconds. It was priceless. (it's a good thing don't worry!) I appreciate the reviews…a lot! Thanks a bunch. I'm very glad you like it! I'll try to update faster, and I'll try to put more romance in it. I'm sorry about the boring chapter eight, but the mission must go on! This is for all of the reviews:D**_

_**AliKat89-Thanx for the review! Glad you liked it!**_

_**CHAPTER EIGHT**_

_**OtakuAnime131-I AM SOOOOOO SORRY ABOUT THE LONNNNNNNNG UPDATES! I TRIED TO EXPLAIN UP BEFORE THE THANK YOUS! PLEASE FORGIVE MY LACK OF SPEED!**_

**_PissedxOffxPrincessx18-I'm sorry this one is short! I won't let myself quit before five and a half pages! I'll try to make them longer from now on! Yes! I would love for you to find me more jutsu! You see I have this cronic illness, I'm supposed to have it forever, it's called…lazyness. I'm sorry to make you go through the trouble though, but if you don't mind it is greatly appreciated. And don't worry, if ever you have an idea to put into the story, or anyone for that matter, send it to me and I'll do my best! Refering to the sleepwalking there…weel have fun, love the reviews:D_**

_**Pixel-the-evil-fairy-Thnx for the review! I'm really glad you liked this chappie! I know it was kinda the boring chapter lol! Here's the next chappie! Hope you liked it!**_

_**Silent Whisperer-OMG NO PLEASE DON'T SEND GAARA AFTER ME! Please…If you do, then no one will be able to finish this fanfic…:D. Sorry about the cliffies! I explained why I do that at the authors note at the end of the fic lol! Here is the next chapter! Hope you liked it! "Runs away from the sand with the cpu" :D**_

_**Scarlet Assassin-SORRY ABOUT THE CLIFFIES! I explained in the authors note about that…don't kill me please…no one to finish the fic. Don't worry! I WILL MAKE HIM SOOOOO JEALOUS! He won't know what hit him, and neither will anyone else… :D**_

_**END OF COMMENTARY! LOVE ALL REVIEWERS! R&R THANKX A BUNCH!**_


	10. Sakura's Mistake, Neji's Jealousy

**Hello again my faithful readers! Hope you've been good! Don't forget to read the authoress's note at the end! It has some info that you might be interested in!**

**Disclaimer:** **I DON'T OWN NARUTO**

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**Last time…**

_They were walking through the first floor corridor leading them to the stairs to take them up to her floor when all of a sudden someone grabbed her and slammed her up against the wall, hard. Before she could scream or do anything the person already had his mouth upon hers, bruising her lips with a crushing force. She could taste the blood in her mouth from him biting her bottom lip in an attempt to get her to open her mouth, which naturally, she did when he bit her lip._

_She had had her eyes closed until she felt the offender slide his tongue into her mouth, then she opened them to see none other than…_

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**Chapter Nine**

**Sakura's Mistake, Neji's Jealousy**

"_Oh. My. God."_

"**Oh no girl. We're in trouble."**

"Mmm. You taste good Yori. Perhaps I should sample a little more of you."

**"GIRL. This is not good! We need to go ninja and kick his ass for touching us like that!"**

_"Gah. We can't! We'll fail the mission! Oh Kami send help please! We have to remain almost helpless until someone shows up!"_

"Um. Kisuke? What are you…" Sakura stuttered out, but was cut off by his mouth crashing down on hers. She could again taste the blood from the new cut on her bottom lip.

She didn't have time to say anything, or do anything in particular, she tried to scream, yell, make noise, anything to get somebody's attention, but to no avail, as his mouth covering hers made sure that not even one strum of her vocal cords got out of her mouth.

She then tried hitting the wall and him, like a normal woman, but that did no good either, because as soon as she went to hit anything, Kisuke grabbed both of her hands with his hands as he held her against the wall with his strong frame. Kisuke has nothing on Neji though, she realized, if she could go ninja she would kick this mans ass…easy.

Unfortunately, that was not the case here, and she could only put up as good of a fight as possible, in hopes that _someone_ would save her. Then, as she was about to start panicking, she got an idea.

_"The scroll is in Kisuke's robe right?"_

**"Yeah. So what? You do realize that he is going to rape us right?"**

_"Yeah, but that's not the point. If we can get Kisuke to remove his robe, then we can take the scroll from him, while he thinks we're wanting this with him._"

**"Uh huh. Now. Miss smarty-pants, did you forget the part about us getting away?"**

_"Oops. Well we can always hit him over the head with a vase or something right?"_

**"We're doomed."**

Just as she was about to start a very heated argument over what they should do in this situation, she felt wandering hands. These hands were undoing her obi. Unfortunately, for our beautiful cherry blossom, his mouth was still over hers, lifting up every once in a while so that they could get a short breath in, but not long enough for her scream or yell out anything that could get her out of this situation.

She could tell from the pressure on her wrists that she was going to have bruises from his fingers on her wrists later. She didn't really know when it happened, considering how panicky she is being right now, but he had switched they way he held her hands, so that he could hold her hands above her head, with one of his hands.

Kisuke moaned into her mouth while throwing her obi to the floor. His hands then started to part her beautiful kimono slowly, because he was getting off on her fear. He could feel her tears rubbing against his lip as they fell like rivers from her eyes. Silent tears though, he could feel her trembling beneath him and knew it wasn't from his ministrations.

Fortunately, she had never been raped before, and as such, was scared shitless, but she knew that she absolutely had to get that scroll. Then hopefully, someone would save her ass, but if not then… NO. She didn't want to even think about that.

He finally had her kimono parted slightly down the middle, enough to reveal some cleavage of her breasts and a small amount of a flat toned stomach. He was just drawing circles on it, attempting to get her in the mood, but she wasn't going down that easy.

He was too busy to notice the scroll fall out of his obi's tight hold as he loosened his obi so that he could further violate her being. Since there was so much clothing on the floor at their feet the scroll didn't make a noise as it landed there, on her clothes. She may not have been able to move very much, but she did move enough to cover the scroll with some clothing so that he wouldn't see it and look down.

_"DAMN! Where's Neji when you need him?!"_

**"I don't know, but I hope he gets here soon! Somebody, anybody really, I don't care who it was as long as they helped us out of this situation and away from that…that…MONSTROSITY!"**

_"For once you and I wholly agree!"_

He had slipped his hand down to the hem of her panties and was playing with it while he was licking and nipping at her neck, since he knew that she wasn't going to yell or scream or anything. However, he did not let go of her hands, and his free hand started to dip lower into her panties, sliding down into her warmth, to rub a little on her sensitive nub.

She wanted to scream, but her mouth needed a break, if she so much as tried to scream, who knows what he would do to her. She felt his hand slide down and cup her most intimate of places, without removing her panties. She was trying to hold onto the assumption that someone would save her, but she was starting to panic now. She could feel the salty tears start pouring out of her eyes as she hung her head in shame. Then, in a second, Kisuke was gone.

She didn't know how he was gone or if he left of his own free will, because right as he stuck the first finger inside of her, she blocked everything out and tried to concentrate on getting the mission completed. Nothing else mattered, but getting this mission completed so that she could go home and rid herself of the touch of this man's atrocious hands.

"What the **fuck** do you think you're doing?" asked Neji in a dangerously low voice. Anyone that knew Neji would instantly be able to tell that he was seething right now. "Get the **fuck **out of here before I mail you back to your relatives in pieces."

Kisuke could tell that this man was **pissed**, but this is the man who is with her to ensure her safety to whichever town it is that they are headed to. Unfortunately, he didn't get to finish what he started, but since there is something in the way, he'd just have to come back later.

Kisuke got up and ran towards the stairwell that would lead him to his room on the top floor of the establishment. He didn't even notice that he was missing the scroll that was linked in his obi. He was too scared of Neji to say or do anything but run, and that is probably a good thing considering how seriously pissed Neji is at the moment.

Neji turned around and walked slowly over to where Sakura had slid down the wall with her head in her hands bawling as silently as she could. She barely felt it when Neji slid his arms around her waist to help her stand up, or when he moved her kimono around so that it would cover her entire body, instead of letting her flesh be seen through the gap in the middle.

Finally, she calmed down enough to see Neji standing there with his arms wrapped around her waist making a vain attempt at fixing her kimono. She didn't say a word; she just gave him a small smile and bent down to collect her obi and the scroll that she had hidden among her clothing. The scroll was still there, and it was still intact, thank god no one had stepped on it.

He knew that she would probably want to wait to get into their room to discuss this, that is, if she wanted to discuss it at all. Although, he practically knew that she did, mainly because he was going to ask her about it and because that was probably just the beginning of the water works show, especially since Kisuke had his hand down where it shouldn't have been.

She made sure not to show Neji the scroll that she recovered, until they got into their room, where there are no spy devices or anything. If Neji doesn't know anything until they get into their room, then if they get stopped ahead of time, there will be nothing for Neji to try to hide. If only she could see the reaction he will have when she tells him why she allowed that monstrosity of a man to touch her that way, when she could have used a little miniscule amount of ninja training to just break his hold on her and get away.

On the outside, Neji was fine, she could see that, but she couldn't tell on the inside right now, since they are hiding their chakra. Although, for a second when he was helping her gather her clothing and cover herself, she though she saw some anger flash through his eyes, but she could've been just imagining it. That sounds more likely, even after what happened, he didn't treat her any different, well not to her face anyway.

They weren't quite finished with getting her completely covered, but Neji decided that it wasn't needed. He actually got impatient and scooped her up with an arm underneath her legs and around her back, bridal style, and started carrying her up the stairs.

Their room was close to the stairwell, two doors down in fact, so it didn't take him very long to open the door to their room, even with Sakura in his arms. He carried her inside and gently set her down on the bed, still as poker faced as ever, though inside, he was boiling. He didn't say a word as he backed up to lean against the opposite wall and stare at her. He knew that she wanted to say something, but he didn't know what it was. He also wanted to ask about it, but questions like these required a certain way to ask them. He knew that you didn't just come out and say, "Hey, why did you let that guy almost rape you?" no that wasn't how to do it. Asking it like that might just make it worse.

Speaking of that guy, Kisuke, is his name, he heard him tell her that as he walked out of the door of that room in the tea shop. After that he'd had to run all over this freaking city to get that weird obsessed woman to stop chasing him. By the time he had gotten back they had already left the tea shop, so he decided to sit down and have something to eat, since he knew that Sakura would have already had something with those _men._ He really didn't like the idea of leaving her alone with those guys, but she left him with no choice. Unfortunately, he had had a feeling that something wasn't right, and he knew exactly what that feeling was the second he went to walk up to their room and he found _Kisuke, _taking advantage of her. He snapped, he almost activated his Byakugan and went ninja on his happy ass, although, he would have tortured him first, probably.

As he was going through his thoughts, Sakura was watching him. He had a scowl on his flawless face, his eyes were narrowed, almost into slits, and he had his arms crossed over his chest. She knew he was mad, although, she also knew not to say anything about it, unless she wanted him to explode at her, which she didn't. She didn't necessarily know that he would explode at her, but she couldn't be sure, she had never seen him mad before. Well, showing it on his face anyway.

Finally, Neji looked up at her, with a scowl still on his face, and said, "Why did you let him do that to you?" That was the one thing that he couldn't figure out. She is a high class kunoichi, while that man, _Kisuke, _is a low class lord. She should have easily been able to overpower him, but she didn't, and that had him wondering why. He just didn't understand.

Sakura looked at him, smiled a small smile, and started digging through her obi, since it was huge; it was the perfect thing to hide the scroll in. She had to take her time so as not to over look it. Finally, after making Neji wait a good ten minutes, she found it and pulled it out for Neji to see. "He had it tucked into his obi, and I wanted to get it as soon as possible so we could get out of here. I didn't know how else to get it. As to your question of why I didn't just use some ninja skills to get away, I didn't want to blow our cover. It would be bad if they found out wouldn't it?" she explained calmly.

"So. You let him put his hands…touch you _there_ for a damn scroll!" Neji raised his voice considerably and stamped his foot down on the floor. "That _man_ has absolutely _no right_ to touch you the way that he did!"

"Neji! Calm down. I thought that we had to get back the scroll by whatever means necessary! I saw a chance to get it, and I took it. There was no other way to get his obi off of him without drawing attention to ourselves, unless he did it himself, then he might think that he just lost it!" Sakura rose her voice as well, neither of them were arguing loud enough to be called a yell, considering what they were arguing about.

She stood up and started going through her clothing when a hand caught her arm and yanked her back to fall on the bed. She automatically gasped at this, but she also knew that she had nothing to fear from Neji. Although, she didn't know why he just did this, it was apparent that he wasn't finished talking.

"Listen, we're not through here yet! I want to know why you _let him_ touch you like that! Why weren't you at least struggling a _little_?! Why weren't you at least trying to break away from that…that…_Kisuke's _grip?!" he nearly yelled at her, while holding her down with his body on the bed.

"Neji," Sakura whispered, as she made her body relax underneath his. She could feel him breathing in and out, and his heart beating frantically. She immediately knew that he had let himself get all worked up like this, but she didn't know why. He knew that they had to succeed in this mission no matter what the cost. So why was he acting like this was the end of the world or something?

She couldn't tell he was jealous, she just though that he was mad because she didn't discuss it with him first, but that was to be expected, from him anyway. He, however, knew that that was what this rare emotion he was feeling was. However, he didn't have any clue on how to get it to go away. He had seen his fellow shinobi act like this countless times, but he never thought that he would catch himself acting the part of the jealous lover or whatever he was to her or anybody else. It just wasn't normal Neji behavior.

He decided that he needed to calm down, she was right, however he wouldn't admit that to anyone but himself. If he didn't calm down, everyone might know that they are ninja, and that would be very bad. Their disguises are working so well that they haven't had any suspicious glances from anybody, including those lords' bodyguards.

"Just be thankful that she got the damn thing without her actually having to do _anything _with _him,_" he thought. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down; however, anger just rose again inside of him when he heard her start talking.

"Neji, I'm sorry that I did that with Kisuke without consulting you first, but I didn't figure that you'd care all that much as long as the mission went smoothly and we got the scroll and got out of her as planned. Neji, to tell you the truth, I was really scared back there, I didn't know if anyone would actually come and help me after I recovered the scroll or not. Kisuke, he, he seemed to be getting off on the fact that I was scared of him. Neji, I'm sorry, another reason that I didn't do anything was because there for a while, I was struggling, but as time went by and no one came, I didn't think I was going to get out of there at all, and I guess I started to panic. He liked it though, it seemed like he wanted me to be scared of him," Sakura said, in a whisper, she though that Neji hadn't heard her, but she was wrong. He was just thinking it over. Planning on which way he would kill that sick bastard the next time he saw him.

He silently looked down into her tear-filled eyes and got even madder. He couldn't stand the fact that _Kisuke _made her cry. He was still pissed as hell, but when he saw her face, all he could do was slowly lay himself down on top of her, while trying not to squish her, and hold her.

His anger didn't fade however, and he accidentally let a miniscule amount of his chakra out in his thoughts about how he was going torture that malicious Sakura molesting bastard when he got his hands on the fucking idiot. When he did, Sakura could instantly tell that he was pissed beyond all possible limitations.

She was upset as well, and she decided, well her body decided, that she needed to feel better, and help him feel better as well. He lifted up his head to say something, and when he did she quickly pressed her lips to his. It surprised him for a second, but in a matter of seconds he was kissing her back with the passion of a blazing fire. She ran her hands through his hair and yanked out the hair tie. He slid his hands down and started sliding them up and down her sides. Neji very quickly forgot what he was about to say, and instead pulled away from her, although he was fighting just as hard as she was to keep going.

"Kami Sakura, are you sure? I won't go back," Neji asked before kissing her again, with as much force and passion as he did the last time. He didn't even give her time to answer before he started kissing her again.

"Neji, I…

**AH. He he he. I love you guys!**

**(don't hurt me!)**

**Thankx to all of the reviewers! I will write another thanx page in a couple of chapters!**

**Thankx to all of the readers! I hope that you are enjoying the story! **

**HEY EVERYBODY!**

**I'm thinking about putting a fight scene in, so I NEED SOME HELP!**

**SERIOUSLY! I AM LIKE FIGHT SCENE RETARTED! MAYBE REVIEW AND GIVE TIPS! IDEAS! ANYTHING!**

**This fic would seriously suck if I just had to skip it and say they got back to Konoha safe and sound without any problems right? I know it would yes I do. SOOOOO THAT'S WHERE YOU GUYS COME IN! My faithful reviewers and motivation coordinators. GIVE ME ASSISTANCE! Don't be shy! No one could possibly be as fight scene retarded as me so don't be shy with the tips or ideas. I'll be sure to thank you explicitly and use all the information given in the scene. SOOOOOO. GIVE ME INFO!**

**OH! I almost forgot! I am going to start doing two pages of writing at least everyday! NOT TWO CHAPTERS two pages per chapter everyday until I have the required amount. Right now I'm up to writing at least six pages before I can post, so I should be putting chapters up every three days, if nothing gets in the way! **

**Thankx a bunch! Don't forget to R&R:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D **


	11. Sakura's Decision

HEY ALL! SORRY FOR THE LONG UPDATE! I ALMOST LOST MY WRITING SPIRIT DOING AN EXTENSIVE ENLISH PROJECT! MY BAD! I ALSO HAD TO STUDY FOR A UIL SPELLING AND VOCABULARY TOURNAMENT, WHICH WE WON FIRST PLACE AS A TEAM, BUT I HAD TO WAIT ON WRITING MY FANFIC FOR A WHILE! FORGIVE ME! I BROKE THIS CHAPTER IN HALF! FIGHT SCENE POSTPONED INTO NEXT CHAPTER!

**DISCLAIMER: SADLY I DON'T OWN IT.**

**WARNING: FROM THE BEGINNING OF THIS CHAPTER TO ALMOST THE VERY END IT IS LEMON. THERE IS A SMALL AMOUNT OF TEXT AT THE END THAT ISN'T LEMON. IF YOU DON'T LIKE LEMON, DON'T READ IT AND SKIP ALL THE WAY TO THE LITTLE BAR THAT SAYS END LEMON**

**I TRIED TO MAKE THIS A REALLY GOOD LEMON. AS I SAID BEFORE I APOLOGIZE FOR THE LONG UPDATES, I GET IMPATIENT AS WELL AS THE NEXT PERSON, BUT I HAD THINGS THAT TOOK UP MOST OF MY TIME. INCLUDING NOT BEING ABLE TO GET ON MY COMPUTER:D I THANK ALL THE REVIEWERS! PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!**

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**Chapter 11**

**Sakura's Decision**

_Last Chapter:_

_"Neji I..."_

_Now:_

Sakura didn't really have time to say anything else. Neji's tongue was in her mouth like lightning, assaulting her senses simultaneously, touch, taste, smell, and sound. He would have assulted sight if she hadn't of closed her eyes. Their breathing turned heavy and fast while he started placing aggressive, yet somewhat subtle, touches all over her body, especially her back, sides, stomach, thighs ,and breasts.

Her throaty moans of pleasure were driving him towards the brink of insanity. He wanted her, needed her, and now...right here. Unfortunately, he didn't know wheather or not she wanted him as badly as he wanted her...or worst case senario...not at all.

It took all of his self-control, but he used what little strength he had left in his succulent arms and chest to stop his actions until she gave him an answer to the most important question of the moment.

**"He looks good enough to eat..."**

_"Yeah..."_

**"Hello! Are you even listening to me?!"**

_"Mm-hmm..."_

**"Fine, whatever."**

Neji pulled back, slowly leaving her lucious rosy red lips, took a deep breath with his eyes closed and whispered, "Saku-"

In a matter of seconds Sakura's hot, wet tongue was in his mouth attempting to start a way with his own hot, wet muscle. Her tongue completely rose and conquered his moist cavern in a matter of seconds. Since he couldn't have that so he shoved her tongue back into her own mouth and started a revolt.

He supposed that was the answer to his question. So he untensed and his body started acting on its own as his thoughts faded into nothingness.

Sakura had already decided that this was definately what she wanted, no needed. She felt dirty from being touched by Kisuke. She needed to convince her body and mind that it was okay to do this again, that it wouldn't be forced upon her. Even though Kisuke didn't go all the way, he intended to. Neji had asked her consent once, and attempted a second time, so she had the answer that she was looking for. She figured that Neji wouldn't have minded if she had said no, but she didn't really want to either.

His touch felt like lightning shooting out from every orface he touched. Whether it be her face, hips, thighs, arms, neck, shoulders, stomach, or breasts. All the electric currents wound up metting at the juncture between her thighs, making her entire being quiver in anticipation and need.

All he was doing was kneeling between her legs, his mouth locked onto hers, both trying to force the otheres tongue into submission. While his hands slid over every millimeter of skin her could get to without removing any clothing. Yes he had to push her kimono up so he could kneel between her legs, but he didn't remove it...yet.

She slid her hands down his back, from shoulder to lumbar, raking her nails the entire way, trying to urge him to move faster. She wasn't in the mood for doing this slowly and gently.

He got the point and moved to placing chaste kisses on her jaw, trailing down towards the neckline of her kimono. He started nibbling on the skin right above the hem of her kimono, marking her as his.

He quickly went back up her creamy, smooth neck licking and sucking along the way to her ear. Where he bit...hard, making her yell in pleasure. He then started sucking some on the place he bit, drawing blood, making her moan and hold him tighter.

"Neji...ah!" Sakura moaned as he grabbed the kunai he was sharpening earlier and cut her obi so he could just pull it off of her without any hassle.

"Ah...Neji...that was expensi-oh!" Sakura attempted to sold Neji for it, only to let out an enticing half-moan half-exclamation at the end of her sentance. When he pulled the top of her kimono off of her breasts and started sucking greedily on her right nipple, while massaging her left breast.

She could feel the heat pooling in her stomach. This wasn't like the last time. This was way better. He's being far rougher this time than the last.

Neji could tell she was enjoying this by all of the pleasurable sounds he was illiciting from her. He bit down on her nipple and she practically screamed in pleasure as she automatically arched into him and fisted his hair in her small but deadly hands. She pulled his head more towards her chest in an attempt to tell him to keep going, since she couldn't vocally admonish him for stopping for a second to lift her body off of the bed and strip her kimono completely off of her lithe form. Which he did while they were locked in a heated kiss of unbridled passion.

She was so busy with kissing Neji that she hadn't been paying attention to his hands. One of which was now playing with the taut nipple on her right breast. The other had made a pilgrimage down south to her hidden treasure trove and was in the process of inserting two fingers into her hot, wet core.

"Ahh...Neji...mmm!" she exclaimed as he started pumping his fingers in and out at a fast pace. "Unn...Neji" she moaned, more like whined, out while pouting as well as she could when he slowed down to an almost painfully agonizing slow pace.

He smirked at her protestation and leaned down to suck and bite her left peak while still keeping the agonizing pace he set with his fingers. She gasped at this and pulled his hair.

She the grabbed at the hem of his shirt and started pulling it up a little ways. He got the message and pulled his fingers out of her for the two seconds it took to get his shirt over his head. Then he resumed pleasuring her with his magic fingers and his hot mouth on her breast.

Before she could get her hands back down to his pants, he started making a trail of kisses downwards. He licked around her navel, making her gasp, then traveled ever southward towards her precious ruby of euphoria.

When he got there, he immediately started plunging his tongue in and out of her. To which she responded by grabbing his head and started squirming and bucking her hips, along with moaning and gasping at the intense, practically immediate, amount of pleasure he was ever-so-graciously inflicting upon her.

He grabbed her hips with both of his hands to forcefully hold her hips in place. He could feel her writhing, gasping, and panting for air under his ministrations, and it made him want to smirk...but right now he was busy.

She bit her lip in a futile attempt to keep from screaming too loudly in euphoric pleasure when she came. She didn't scream as loud as she would have, but she bet the people next door heard her. She could taste the blood from the wound her teeth inflicted upon her lip from her efforts in masking how good his ravishing felt to her.

Neji just licked up all of her juices with his hot tongue while listening to Sakura pant harshly above him. Then zoomed up to ravish her mouth completely senseless.

As they were passionately making out Sakura's hand made it down to the hem of Neji's shorts. She could feel the evidence of his longing for her as he pressed his hips into hers unconsiously.

Neji was too caught up in the kiss to acknowledge what Sakura was doing. Until he felt her stroking his erection on the outside of his shorst. That made him let out a throaty moan, since he was still kissing her, which she enjoyed.

He instantly moved one hand to pinch her left rose bud between his thumb and index finger, causing her to moan into his mouth. She put a little bit more pressure into her strokes and he broke away from their kisses long enough to catch a breath and groan some more in pleasure.

She then undid the button and unzipped the zipper on his shorts. She used one hand to push on his chest so that he'd lean back onto his knees, while still kissing each other sloppily. After he sat back she used both hands to yank his shorts down to his knees, since that is as far as she could get them at the moment.

She leaned back, away from his lips slowly, deliberately, looking at him with lust filled eyes, making him growl and scowl at her for halting his excitment. Just when he was about to forcefully pull her head back toward him, she stated stroking his bardened length on the outside of his boxers.

He stopped what he was about to do, and his eyes widened a fraction for a minute, and he let out a deep groan as he leaned his head on her right shoulder and started panting harder.

Slowly she pulled his boxers down to join his shorts with her unoccupied hand, while still gently stoking his member with the other. Pausing in her ministrations just long enough to free his large member from its silky prison.

Right after that she returned to stroking him. He groaned, rather loudly, in response. She wrapped her hand around him and started sliding up and down slowly. As she did this she prompted him to lean back, off of her shoulder, by pushing on his chest with the other hand.

He let out a small growl, but he complied with her silent request and leaned back. He opened his eyes to look at her for a moment before she tightned her grip and sped up a bit. Then he closed his eyes and concentrated as best he could on not letting out a very loud sound of pleasure.

He was concentrating so hard on the pleasure he was receiving that he didn't feel her body shift. She watched the faces he made as she moved her hand this way and that, mezmorized by how the tiniest movement could either generate a different sound, or cause him to change his facial expressions in the blink of an eye. As she moved her head lower on his body, not touching anything with her mouth, until she got to the head of his throbbing member. She smirked up at him, although he couldn't see it, and whispered, "Neji..."

"Huhhhh..." is all he managed to say, it turned into a distinguished groan halfway through, before she licked his head slowly. She teased him a bit by only licking him, before his hands started pushing on the back of her head and she could hear him growl at her. She laughed inside.

**"Sakura 1 Neji 1. Cha! We're tied!"**

_"I didn't know you were even counting."_

**"..."**

Finally, she took it into her mouth. His hands instantly balled into fists in her hair, moving with her head as she sucked and licked along his head and shaft. After a while of that she deep throated him and he came in a silent scream. She let it go down her throat before she slid him out of her mouth, slowly letting her tongue slide sensuously up his shaft, massaging as it went. She could hear his ragged breathing, and she looked up to see a sheen of sweat covering his upper torso, his head leaned back.

She moved and started stroking him again as she leaned back to lay on her back on the bed. It didn't take very long before he was hard again.

He looked at her as she smirked at him and put pressure on the head of his hardened member. That did it.

"Fuck...Sakura!" he gasped out as he grabbed her wrists and locked them above her head with one hand. He grabbed her right thight and lifted her leg up onto his shoulder as he entered her.

"Ahh...Neji...mmm!" was all she could splutter out as he pounded into her relentlessly. She scould hear him grunting and groaning above her. She wrapper her other leg around his waist, which caused him to go deeper into her on the next thrust. He leaned down and bit her left nipple and she arched into him and nearly screamed, if his mouth hadn't swiftly caught it. As quickly as his mouth was there it was gone again.

"Neji...Kami...unn!" she moaned as he hit **the** spot within her. He smirked and angled his body so that he could hit that spot over and over again.

He slammed his mouth onto hers as she came, to stifle her screams of ethereal bliss. He plunged into her five times more and he fell off the precipace where wave after smouldering wave of pleasure shook is body as well. Almost immediately after that he collapsed on top of his cherry blossom.

**END LEMON**

Right after their heated love making session they heard yelling from somewhere inside of the hotel. Sakura recognized the voice to be Kisuke's. Neji expanded his senses a little bit and heard something about the scroll and a long list of profanities coming out of his mouth.

He looked at Sakura and said, "He knows the scroll is gone, but he doesn't suspect you. Get dressed into a different kimono, pack your things, and lets start heading back. After what he did he can't expect you to stay. So he shouldn't suspect you for leaving."

"Alright," she breathlessly replied, "I guess it begins..."

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**HELLO ONCE MORE! FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT WANT ANOTHER LEMON TOWARDS THE END OF THIS FIC, I WILL CREATE ONE, BUT I NEED REVIEWS THAT SAY IT IS WANTED, THIS WILL BE SOMETHING EXTRA ON THE END AS AN APOLOGY REQUEST. I KNOW I SHOULD UPDATE SOONER, BUT THIS UIL THING HAS ME BOOKED. OUR NEXT MEET IT MARCH 23. SO I DON'T KNOW IF I'LL BE ABLE TO UPDATE AS FREQUENTLY AS I'D LIKE TO. I WILL TRY TO UPDATE QUICKER FOR THE SAKE OF MY REVIEWERS. LIKE I SAID. IF YOU WANT THE EXTRA LEMON ON THE END, IT'S MY TREAT, BUT I NEED REVIEWS SAYING THAT IT'S WANTED. :D :D **

**SILVER**


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